My Next Door Neighbor
by TragicTeaLeaves
Summary: Draco moves into a muggle neighborhood with his mother after his father's death. Mrs. Malfoy and Mrs. Granger are..friends? What will become of the two teenagers? Read and find out...DMHG R&R!
1. Hermione

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
---------------------------------------------------  
Chapter 1  
Hermione**

Hermione Granger could be found sitting in front of her window, watching her new neighbors in the house in front of them move in. She knew they were friends of her parents and also that they had a son about Hermione's age. She sighed as she turned away from the window and went over to her bed where Crookshanks lay. She opened up a book and began to read, however, she was concentrating on the boy she saw out of her window. He reminded Hermione of Draco Malfoy, her crush since the third year when she punched him. Soon Hermione laid on her bed, absorbed in her thoughts and the book long forgotten.

"Hermione". She snapped out of her thoughts and went downstairs.

"Yes mum".

"Do you want to come visit the neighbors with me?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"Sure".

Soon Hermione was sitting in a comfy couch in Narcissa's home. Narcissa and her mother were too busy talking. The name Narcissa seemed familiar to Hermione but she just couldn't figure where she heard it before. After all, it wasn't a very common name. She then remember Narcissa Malfoy, who was free after Lucius died in the war last year. 'No, it can't be Narcissa. Mum said she and Narcissa have been friends since they were children', Hermione told herself. She excused herself and headed for the kitchen to get a drink. In the kitchen she found another teenager, around her age, standing in front of the refrigerator which his back turned. Hermione was once again reminded of Malfoy and how similar these two boys looked. The boy must have heard Hermione since he turned around.

"**GRANGER**!" he screamed. Hermione stood there shocked. She hadn't expected to find Malfoy here. This was, after all, a muggle neighborhood. 'WHAT IS MALFOY DOING HERE", she screamed in her head.

"**MALFOY**! What are you doing here?" Hermione asked angrily.

"I live here", Malfoy retorted with a smirk on his face. "You on the other hand don't live here. So tell me mudblood, what are you doing here?" Draco asked.

"Shut up Ferret-Boy. If you hate mudbloods so much why are you living here!" Hermione yelled back. The two adults in the family room heard the yelling and were soon in the kitchen, watching both Hermione and Draco yell at each other.

"I'm only here because my mother decided to move here. If I knew a mudblood like was going to be here I wouldn't have agreed!" Draco spat. Hermione glared at and was about to slap him but stopped when she heard Narcissa.

"**DRACO LUCIUS MALFOY**!" Narcissa screamed. "Apologize to Hermione right now!"

"Why?" Draco whined.

"**DRACO MALFOY**!" Narcissa screamed, glaring at her only son.

"Sorry Granger", Draco mumbled.

"So this proves you two know each other?" Mrs. Granger said, glancing nervously at Narcissa.

"Of course Mum. We go to the same school. Malfoy's done nothing but insult Harry, Ron, and me for the past six years", Hermione stated furiously. Narcissa continued to glare at her son.

"Narcissa, I think I should leave. How about we meet again tomorrow?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"Sure Annie. Draco and I will come tomorrow around lunch", Narcissa replied happily. Both teenagers froze when they heard Narcissa say she was going to bring Draco. Hermione stared daggers a Draco once more before following her mother out. As soon as they got home, Hermione exploded.

"Mum! Why didn't you tell me they were Malfoys?" Hermione asked.

"Narcissa and I have been friends since we were little Hermione", Mrs. Granger replied.

"But…but…the whole family's full of death eaters!" Hermione protested.

"Hermione! That is not true. Narcissa was never into dark arts. I'm sure you figured that out after Lucius's death. Narcissa was forced to marry Lucius", Mrs. Granger told her daughter. "Look dear, after Lucius's death, Narcissa decided to move away from the manor. I told them about the house and she agreed. You should try and get along with Draco. He's a sweetie. He's not as bad as he seems". Hermione stood there, speechless. 'SWEETIE? Where are you getting that!' Hermione yelled in her head. To her, Malfoy was nothing close to a sweetie. Hermione sighed.

"Don't expect me to become friends with him. Also, the only way I'll be nice to him is if he decides to behave, stop teasing my friends and calling me a mudblood!" With that said, Hermione stomped off to her room. Annie Granger sighed and went into the kitchen thinking about the conversation she had with Narcissa.

"I can't believe this! Out of all people, Malfoy has to move in!" Hermione screamed to no one in particular. She sat down and decided to write to Harry and Ron. She got out a piece of parchment and began.

_Dear Ron,  
How are you? I'm fine. The Malfoys have just moved in the house in front of mine. My mum told me that she and Narcissa have been friends since they were little. I can't believe that I now have to spend my summer around Malfoy! Write back.  
Your Friend Hermione_

On the next piece of parchment she wrote:

_Dear Harry,  
How are you? I'm fine. The Dursleys aren't giving you any trouble are they? You won't believe who moved in my neighborhood. Draco Malfoy. My mum told me that Narcissa and her have been friends since they were little. I can't believe that I have to deal with him all summer! Write back.  
Your Friend Hermione_

Hermione gave the letters to her new owl she had received for Christmas. "Take the one with the red ribbon to Harry and the one with the orange to Ron. Okay?" The owl hooted and flew off. Hermione sighed and went back to her bed and picked up the book again. She made an attempt to try to forget everything and concentrate on the book. However, all she could think of was Malfoy and how much she hated him but at the same time loved him. She wasn't sure if she was going to be able to survive this summer.

* * *

**Disclaimer- These characters belong to JK Rowling!  
**

**Okay…so how was it? Good? Bad? Need improvement? This is my first Harry Potter fanfiction. I hope you liked it. Review and tell me whether it was good or not. Next chapter will be up soon, hopefully!  
REVIEW!  
Thanks**

**- TragicTealeaves-**


	2. Draco

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
---------------------------------------  
Chapter 2  
Draco**

'I can't believe it! Granger of all people has to be the one to be my neighbor!' Draco thought getting angrier. For one thing, he was being forced to move into a MUGGLE neighborhood where he would most likely being only muggles. Second, Hermione was his neighbor and those two reasons alone were enough to frustrate Draco. Another thing he couldn't believe was that his mother was actually friends with a muggle. A muggle! He soon realized that he was still in the kitchen and his mother was still glaring at him.

"Draco Malfoy! From now on I don't ever want to hear you call anyone a 'mudblood'! Also, you better be nice to Hermione! She's a sweet girl. I also don't want you making fun of her or her friends, understand!" Mrs. Malfoy nearly yelled. 'SWEET? What are you talking about?' Draco thought.

"Yes mother", he replied.

"Good", his mother said as she walked to the door but before she left she turned around and added, "Tomorrow you will come with me to the Grangers house and befriend Hermione". She left the kitchen leaving a shocked Draco behind. 'I can't believe mother actually expects me to befriend that filthy mudblood! It will never happen' he thought to himself, furious. Even though his mother expected him to become friends with a mudblood, he still liked his mother better now that his father was dead. Normally a son would cry over his father's death but not Draco. Draco celebrated. He and his mother both had their freedom back.

That night Draco did not sleep peacefully. He couldn't help but think of Hermione and how much different she looked. Her hair was no longer frizzy. Instead her frizzy hair was replaced by soft curls. He also noticed how much her body had matured. He never really noticed her body that much but today he had and that's all he thought of. The next morning, his dream still stayed in his head. He was furious with himself for dreaming about Hermione. He went downstairs to find his mother ready. He realized slept in that morning till 11.

"Finally! Now hurry up", Mrs. Malfoy told Draco.

"I'm ready", He muttered. The two made their way across the street to the Granger's house.

"Narcissa! Come in. Hello Draco", Annie Granger said cheerfully before screaming, "Hermione!"

"Coming", came a yell from upstairs. After a few minutes, Hermione came downstairs completely ignoring the fact that her enemy was in her house. "Hello Mrs. Malfoy".

"Hello dear", was Mrs. Malfoy's reply before she gave Hermione a hug.

'Hermione, why don't you show Draco around", Mrs. Granger told her daughter.

"Sure", she replied knowing that even if she objected, she would end up showing him around anyway. "Come on Malfoy". Both teenagers left the house not exactly happy. Hermione showed him around, bored. Draco didn't find it interesting either. While they walked around the neighborhood, Draco stared at Hermione. For some reason he couldn't stop thinking about her. He mentally scolded himself for thinking about Hermione but continued anyway.

"Hermione! Your home", Draco heard a voice yell. Both he and Hermione turned around to see a blonde girl running towards them.

"Hey Riley! I got back yesterday", Hermione replied giving her best friend a hug.

"Who's this hottie?", Riley asked with a smile on her face. "Hermione, is he your boyfriend?"

"NO", Hermione screamed in disgust but Draco just smirked. "He's new here". Since Hermione didn't bother to introduce him, Draco decided to introduce himself.

"Hi, I'm Draco Malfoy", Draco smirked.

"I'm Riley Stats. I've heard the name Draco Malfoy before…where?" Riley asked herself thinking very hard. "Now I remember! Hermione, isn't he the kid that made your life hell in that boarding school you go to?"

"Yeah".

"Then why are you here with him?"

"Turns out our mothers are friends", Hermione sulked. Rileysnorted andHermione glared at her best friend.

"So what have you two been up to?" Riley asked, trying to change the subject.  
"Nothing. Just finished showing Malfoy around the place and we were just getting ready to go back home", Hermione replied in a bored tone.

"You guys can come over my house! My parents are gone for the weekend anyway and then I can invite everyone else over. How does that sound?" Riley asked.

"Sure. Sounds fun. I still have to drop Malfoy home though", Hermione said. "Wanna come with us?"

"He can come too. I invited him too", Riley said. She leaned in and whispered in to Hermione's ear, "He's hot". Hermione sighed and went along with Riley. "So Draco, you can come. Do you want to?" Riley asked Draco.

"Sure…why not. It's not like I have anything better to do anyway", Draco replied bored. Riley grinned and the three began to walk to Riley's house which was only two blocks away. While walking, Hermione had a lot on her mind. She didn't like the fact that Riley thought Draco was hot and for some reason she couldn't help but feel jealous. Hermione also secretly liked Draco a little. 'Why do I feel jealous?' she asked herself. 'I shouldn't feel jealous'. Still Hermione continued to feel a little jealousy and hurt. She knew Draco would never like her. After all, Draco only saw her as a filthy mudblood. Then a voice pulled her out of her trance.

"HERMIONE!" Riley screamed.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"I've been trying to get your attention for the past couple of minutes", Riley said smirking.

"Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind", Hermione said. She walked in and Riley closed the door. She knew exactly what was on Hermione's mind. "I'll call the others", Riley said picking up the phone. "Carrie was going to come over in 15 minutes anyway". She called Mark, Damien, Marina, and Carrie. "They'll be here soon. We planned to meet tonight anyway", Riley said smiling. She noticed Draco standing and motioned him to sit. "Hermione's told me a lot about you. You sound like bully", Riley said.

"Whatever Granger said isn't true. She's a little bookworm. Honestly you should see her at school. 'Oooh I know I know! Me, me! Professor, I know the answer!'", he mimicked laughing. "Tell me, who could possible like an annoying little teachers pet and bookworm?" Draco smirked.

"I could", Riley said with an angry look. Even though she thought this guy was hot, she was not going to sit there and listen to him insult her best friend. Draco continued smirking and ignored whatever Riley said. "Hermione, can I talk to you, in the kitchen?" "Sure..", Hermione got up and followed Riley into the kitchen.

"Do you think I have a chance with him?" Riley asked.

"You like him?" Hermione nearly yelled.

"Shh…of course. He's gorgeous!" Riley replied. "I'm surprised you know him and haven't gone out with him yet". Hermione secretly like Draco and she knew she would never have a chance with him. To him she was just a "mudblood". She didn't know what to tell Riley. Draco hated mudbloods and hated muggles as well. She sighed and just went along with Riley. 'She probably won't like him for long anyway', she thought. Before she could reply, Malfoy called them.

"YO, GRANGER AND RILEY", Draco yelled. Both girls went out to find Mark, Damien, Marina, and Carrie.  
"Hermione!" the two girls squealed. Hermione gave each a hug including Mark and Damien.

"Hey guys", Hermione replied.

"Everyone, meet Draco Malfoy. He goes to the same school with Hermione", Riley introduced.

"Hey". Draco said.

"Hiya" Marina replied.

"You and Hermione friends?" Damien asked sitting down and pulling Carrie down on his lap.

"Nope", Draco said. "Our mothers are friends".

"We hate each other", Hermione replied. 'Truth is, you hate me', Hermione said in her mind.

"Oh", Mark said.

"When did you get home?" Carrie asked.

"The day before yesterday", Hermione said.

"Where does Draco live?" Marina asked.

"He lives in front of my house", Hermione replied. She badly wanted to get off this topic. She didn't want to talk about Draco. She liked him and she knew he'd never like her. That thought made her upset. Now she was going to spend the summer with him since their mothers were good friends. "I should call my mom. Just to let her know I'm here. Malfoy, are you staying?" "Of course he's staying!" Riley exclaimed. Hermione called her mom and let her know that Draco and she probably won't be home till late since they were at Riley's.

"How was school this year?" Marina asked.

"Okay. Only one more year!" Hermione said happily.

"We missed you so much. I still don't know why you just won't go to a public school here", Carrie said. Hermione smiled.

"I missed you guys too. I like the school I'm going to and besides, my parents prefer that I go to that school", Hermione replied. She looked at Carrie and Damien and realized something.

"You two are going out?" Hermione asked smiling.

"Yeah. For about a month now", Damien said.

"Finally!" Hermione said. Carrie and Damien obviously like each other but weren't ready to admit it. 'Now if only Mark and Marina would admit they like each other', Hermione thought grinning.

"So how come you and Draco don't like each other?", Mark asked.

"Who could like a nosey book-worm?" Draco smirked.

"Who could like ferret-boy who also happens to be a cruel and spoiled git who runs to his daddy whenever he needs something or wants something", Hermione retorted glaring at Draco.

"That's NOT true", Draco said.

"Sure…", Hermione said.

"It isn't. Why don't you go read a book or something since you have nothing else to do. Who could like you? I bet these kids are only talking to you cause they pity you and your ugliness and they pity the fact that you have no friends!" Draco yelled angrily. 'I hate her so much', Draco thought to himself.

"Malfoy, shut up! I have real friends unlike you", Hermione yelled. By now both teenagers were standing and only inches apart.

"Make me", Draco replied.

"Why are you even living here?" Hermione asked irritated.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Draco asked.

"Well if you hadn't showed up here, I would've had a peaceful summer. Now it's ruined because of a certain spoiled git. So just shut up Ferret-Boy!" Hermione screamed.

"Make me, mudblood", Draco yelled back.

"Ferret-Boy".

"Bookworm Granger".

"Conceited prat!".

"Know-it-all bitch!".

"Daddy's boy!".

Carrie, Mark, Riley, Damien, and Marina sat there watching those two fight, entertained. 'Hermione likes him', Carrie thought. Marina was also thinking the same thing. 'He likes her', the two boys thought. Those five sat on the couch smirking watching the two who were screaming by now.

"I wonder how long they could keep up like this", Damien whispered to Carrie causing her smirk to turn into a laugh.

"You'd think they would be tired by now, huh?" Mark asked Marina.

"Yeah. I wonder if they do this in school too", Marina said.

"Opposites attract", Carrie whispered. The others tried really hard not to laugh. The others continued watching Hermione and Draco fight and argue. Finally after about 10 minutes when the two teenagers showed no sign of quitting Riley got up and stopped them. 'They were getting way too close anyway', Riley thought.

"Alright. You two need to stop", Riley screamed. Hermione and Draco realized exactly how close they were to each other and stepped away. Both sat on the couch opposite of the other and glared at the other.

"You two didn't come here to fight!" Carrie said.

"Though it was entertaining", Mark said laughing. Damien grinned. Draco smirked and continued to stare at Hermione who now looked like she was about to kill him any minute.

"How about we do something fun?" Marina asked. "That way those two don't fight", she whispered to Riley. Just then, Marina got an evil idea. 'Opposites attract..hmmm', she thought mentally grinning evilly. "How about we play…Truth or Dare?"

* * *

**Disclaimer- I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Okay…well that was chapter 2. REVIEW.  
THANKS TO ALL MY REVIEWERS!  
**

**Please review and tell me if you like it or not! This is my first attempt to write a Harry Potter fanfiction.  
Any advise/ideas are welcome!**

**REVIEW…I'll try and update soon..for those who like Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events, you should read my other fan fiction When Two Worlds Collide. A combination of Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events.**

**- TragicTealeaves -**


	3. Truth or Dare?

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
----------------------------------------  
Chapter 3  
Truth or Dare?**

"Good idea!" Mark said, getting up.

"Sounds fun. It's not like we have anything else to do", Carried added.  
"We can't play that. How will we know if the person is tell the truth?" Hermione asked. She hoped they didn't have to play that game. She didn't like truth or dare._ 'I have a bad feeling about this'_, she thought to herself.

"Oh come on, I'm sure we can trust everyone here. No one's going to lie", Riley said. "We're playing it.

"Okay, how about everyone sits down in a circle?" Marina said. She grinned evilly at Hermione, confirming Hermione's thought of something bad happening. "Alright, I get to go first"

"And that would be because…?" Mark asked.

"I thought of it", Marina replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"No. I'll go first", Mark said.

"I think not", Marina shot back.

"Okay, both of you, shut up! Marina's going to start the game", Carrie said, glaring at Mark.

"Carrie, truth or dare"

"Truth.

"How far have you gone with Damien?" Marina grinned evilly at Carrie.

"MARINA! Alltheway" Carrie mumbled the last part turning bright red.

"What was that? I don't think any of us heard that" Marina said. By now the group was laughing and Damien was bright red.

"All the way. I hate you Marina", Carrie said, embarrassed. "Mark, truth or dare.

"Dare". Carrie smirked at Marina.

"I dare you to kiss Marina. At least for a minute.

"WHAT! No", Mark refused.

"You can't refuse a dare", Riley said.

"Fine!" He went up to Marina and kissed her. Unwillingly, Marina moaned into the kiss. Finally both broke apart.

"You're a horrible kisser", Marina said.

"Right, exactly why you moaned", He shot her a glare and went back to his seat.

"Asshole", Marina muttered, blushing.

"Bitch", Mark replied.

"Okay, Mark, pick the next person", Carrie said before things got out of control.

"Riley, truth or dare"

"Truth.

"What were you doing at the bar when Damien and I caught you"

"MARK! You know what I was doing"

"Of course I do. However, the others don't", Mark smirked.  
"I'm going to kill you! I was working as one of the strippers. My friend works there so I tried. I don't work there anymore", she added the last part when she saw the surprised looks on her friends face. "I swear, you're going to die soon Mark"

"I love you too", Mark said. Riley glared at him before continuing.

"Draco, truth or dare"

"Dare.

"You sure"

"Of course I am.

"I dare you to…", she got up, walked over to Draco and whispered something that made his face turn even paler, if that was possible. He had a horrified mixed with a slight disgusted look on his face.

"Fuck no!" he yelled.

"It's a dare. You have to. Besides, its only two months. It's not like I'm asking you to do it for a year, though it would be a good idea. But I think I'll stick with two months", Riley said smirking.

"She's right. A dare is a dare", Marina said.

"What did she dare you to do?" Mark asked.

"She dared me to go out with Granger for two months. We have to act like a real couple and Riley has to see us snogging once in a while. I'm not doing that!" Draco spat, angry and disgusted.

"Sorry Draco but you must", Carrie said smirking.

"CARRIE! No Malfoy, it's alright. You don't have to do the dare. In fact, I insist you don't", Hermione said.

"Nope. A dares a dare. Go on Draco", Riley said, pushing him. "Look you can either do the dare I just assigned you or you can sleep with her. Choose one."

"I'll do the fucking dare. I hate you", Draco muttered. He sighed, got up and walked over to Hermione.

"Granger, will you go out with me?" Draco asked.

"Do it again. You cannot call your girlfriend by her surname", Carried stated.

"Fine! Hermione, will you go out with me?" Draco asked again.

"She'd love to!", Marina replied.

"No I wouldn't", Hermione glared.

"Hun, yes you would. You're going out with him whether you say yes or no", Carrie said.

"No. He asked me and I said no", Hermione shot back.

"He was dared. He has to finish his dare and you have to go out with him for him to finish his dare", Riley replied.

"Hermione, follow me", Carrie said as she got up. She took Hermione into the bedroom. After about 10 minutes both girls walked out. Carrie was smirking and seemed very happy. Hermione looked horrified and angry.

"Hermione said she has agreed to go out with you for two months", Carrie told everyone. Hermione nodded, still looking angry.

"Good girl, now go and sit next to your boyfriend", Riley said, "and the game will continue.

"Wait, I'm going to take Malfoy's turn", Hermione said.

"Draco, his name is Draco. Start calling him that", Damien said. "And shouldn't you ask him if you can take his turn?" Hermione looked at the angry Draco next to her.

"Nope. Now, Marina, truth or dare?"

"Umm..dare…no wait, truth", Marina said.

"Tell us how you really feel about Mark", Hermione said. 'I'll have to think of something else for Carrie and Riley later', she thought.

"I hate him", Marina stated though it was very clear she was lying.

"No, tell the truth", Hermione insisted.

"It is the truth"

"No it isn't", Carrie said.

"Fine! I like him okay? I've had a crush on him for about a year now! But I know he hates me", Marina said the last part to herself though Riley heard. Marina looked really upset and Hermione felt guilty. Sure, she was angry at Marina and the other girls but she felt bad making her upset. She knew that Marina was never going to confess this but Hermione made her. She went over to Marina and hugged her and said whispered sorry.

"Don't get mad at me", Hermione said.

"I'm not", Marina said quietly. "Okay, game over", Riley said.

"But…then what are we going to do?" Damien asked. "Hey Mark, got any ideas? Mark? Hello? MARK!" He finally punched Mark's arm, getting his attention.

"What?" he snapped.

"Got any ideas for something we can do now"

"No." Just then, Riley's phone rang. She ran to answer it and called Hermione over.

"Hi Mom", Hermione said.

"The Mrs. Malfoy, your father, and I are going out to dinner. Then we're going to go visit a friend of mine and Narcissa's. We probably won't be home till late. I want Draco and you to go to our house and you can order some pizza. Is that alright?" Mrs. Granger said.  
"That's fine Mom. I'll talk to you later. Bye", Hermione hung up. She turned to Riley and whined. She was so angry at the moment.

"What did she say"

"She and Malfoy's mom and my dad are going out to dinner and then to some friends house and won't be home till late. She wants  
Malfoy and me to stay at my house. I hate him and yet I have to spend alone time with him!" Hermione said. Before Riley could respond, her phone rang.

"Hey", Riley said. Hermione could tell she was talking to one of the many guys she had fooled around with. "Sure! I'd love to! I'll be there at 6", with that said, she hung up.

"First of all, it's DRACO! Start using it will you? And I would offer that you stay here but I'm going out tonight. It was Jake on the phone. He invited me over like now. His parents are out and who knows, I might end u spending the night there" Riley grinned.

"I have no idea how you're able to pull all this stuff off", Hermione muttered.

"My mom doesn't really care if I'm at his house. She trusts me and him", Riley said. "It's almost 5. I said I'd be there around 6. Better get ready soon", Riley said, excited. Both girls walked outside. "Marina, Carrie, Hermione, I want to talk to you girls in my room", Riley said. When they got in her room, Riley began, "Okay, Hermione is alone with Draco tonight. Probably till late. We can assume around midnight maybe. Maybe a little earlier. Jake invited me over and yes I'm going, Carrie. I know you don't approve of what we do but seriously, nothing's going to happen. Now we need to focus on Hermione and Draco", Riley said.

"What!" Hermione asked.

"Hermione, I know you like him. I'm known that for a while now. And don't even deny it. You're a horrible liar", Riley responded.

"Is it true?" Carrie asked. Hermione just looked down and gave her a quick nod. Suddenly, the three girls began to shoot orders towards Hermione.

"Be nice to him.

"Start calling him Draco.

"Let him know you like him.

"Seduce him"

"Riley, I am not going to seduce Draco Malfoy!" Hermione nearly yelled.

"Alright, how about you try to get to know him better tonight?" Carrie asked.

"No"

"Yes"

"Why"

"Because you like him"

"But..."

"No. You will do as I say and tomorrow, I want to know everything that happened tonight. And I want you to tell me what you learned about him", Carrie said.

"We agree", the other two girls spoke up.

"I'm going to go out with Damien tonight since you're going to be away", Carrie said.

"Good idea!" Riley replied.

"Alright, how about we leave and you can get ready. Bye and I'll call you tomorrow around lunch. Is that okay?" Marina asked.

"Perfect", Riley replied. The three girls went outside leaving Riley to get ready.

"Riley is going over Jake's tonight so we're changing plans!" Hermione said, getting everyone's attention.

"Draco you're going home with Hermione and staying at her house. Don't protest because it was her mother's and your mother's order. I'm going out with Damien now", Carrie said.

"How about Mark and Marina come over my house?" Hermione said.

"No. I'm going to go home", Marina said, sending Hermione a smirk.

"How about you come?" Draco asked Mark.

"No, he's busy", Marina spoke up. Everyone looked at her.

"Right?" she asked Mark, glaring at him.

"Yeah. I am"

"Well, Carrie and I are leaving. Bye everyone", Damien said as he grabbed Carrie and dragged her out of the house as fast as he could.

* * *

"Come on, I know the perfect place we can go. Don't tell anyone though", Damien whispered as he kissed her and led her to his car.

"You brought your car"

"Well, I planned on making an excuse for me and you to go home but I guess I don't have to anymore", he said.

"Yeah."

* * *

"I'm going to go home now too. I'll talk to you two later. Bye", Marina said.

"Yeah, later", Mark said as he ran out after Marina. He saw Marina was at the corner already. It looked like she was running.

"Marina! Wait!", Mark shouted and ran up to her. "What?", Marina asked.

"Willyougooutwithme?" Mark asked.

"What"

He took a deep breath and continued, "Will you go out with me"

"If this is your idea of a joke, it's not funny", she tried to walk away but Mark stopped her.

"No, I'm serious", Mark said.

"Yes", Marina whispered. Mark smiled and leaned in to kiss her. He grabbed her hand and took her to his house where they got in his car and left.

* * *

Meanwhile Draco and Hermione were walking home in silence. Her was having a silent battle with herself, deciding if she should say something or not. She knew Draco hated her and assumed he probably wouldn't want to talk to her unless he absolutely had to. This thought made her even more upset. Inside she was feeling excited and happy. She was glad Riley dared Draco. Even though she knew it was only for two months and it was pretend, she was happy to be Draco's girlfriend. She was also a little surprised by Draco's attitude towards his friends. For the past 6 years, he had tortured her and called her a mudblood just because she was muggle-born and here he was, acting civil to all her friends who were muggles! She couldn't believe it. She began to think that maybe Draco had changed. Maybe he wasn't that muggle-hater anymore._ 'But he'll always hate me'_, she told herself.

Draco, however, was angry. He couldn't believe all this was happening. He spent the day with muggles and he couldn't understand how he survived. And the part that surprised him the most was that he didn't mind being around them. He mentally scolded himself. What would his father think of all this? _'But he's not here is he? What does it matter what he would think?'_ a voice inside his head said. _'True'_, Draco thought. He was going to have to get used to hanging around with muggles since he lived in a muggle neighborhood. He then realized that he had made new friends today. And they were muggles. Slytherins do not make muggle friends. They don't even befriend mudbloods. They rarely befriend half bloods, yet here he was, befriending muggles and spending his valuable time with them. _'What would the Slytherins think?'_, he thought. He looked over at Hermione who looked very upset. '_She probably upset cause she has to be my girlfriend for two months. Damn, I can't believe I said dare'_, Draco thought to himself. At that moment, Draco was very confused. Deep down he wanted to stay friends with these people but he kept telling himself he could not be friends with them. At the end, he decided that he would stay friends with them over the summer. Afterwards, he'd end up in Hogwarts and then he would be able to stay at the Malfoy Manor after graduating Hogwarts.

* * *

**Disclaimer- I own nothing but the plot!**

**Well that was Chapter 3. I haven't updated any of my stories since forever! I haven't had much time. In July I was on vacation and then I joined Colorgaurd. It's an awesome sport, frustrating at times. You spin and toss flags and dance and march and stuff. lol.**

**I hope you guys liked this chapter. Send me a review with what you thought and if you have any advice or anything. Feel free to write down what you think of my story and any pointers/ideas. If you have questions, you can always email me. My email is in my profile. **

**- TragicTealeaves -**


	4. Dumbledore

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
------------------------------------------------  
Chapter 4  
Pretending**

**(Hermione's POV )**

"I can't believe this. I just can't. I have no idea what Riley's up to but I know it's nothing good. I do not have to pretend to be Draco's girlfriend for two months because of a dare. That doesn't even make sense! I am so confused right now", I say aloud to no one. I look towards my window and see a brown barn owl. I couldn't recognize who it's was and then realized it must be one of the school owls. I quickly walk over and open the window, letting the poor thing in. It looked exhausted. I carried it over to Summer, my owl I had gotten for Christmas, and let it have some food and water. Meanwhile I picked up the letter which read:

**To Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy**

**4220 Drawing Lane**

I sighed and looked over to the barn owl who was still eating and drinking. I decided I might as well go downstairs and find Draco since the letter was for both of us.

"MALFOY!" I scream as I walk down the stairs.

"What?" he replied sounding angry.

"There's a letter here for both of us", I stated.

"Give it to me!" He said trying to snatch the letter.

"I said BOTH of us. Not just you. I would like to read it to you know."

"Fine, fine. Let's go into the kitchen. I was about to make something for me to eat anyway", he said. As soon as we got to the kitchen, I sat down and opened the letter. I read aloud:

_Dear Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy,_

_First of all, I hope both of you are okay. Second, Mr. Malfoy, I hope you enjoy your new home. Your mother owled me to let me know. Hopefully everything turns out alright._

_I have some very urgent news for you two and would like both of you to come to the Headquarters tonight around 6. It's very important that you two come. I also have a big favor I would like to ask you but it would be too risky to say everything I need to in this letter. I hope to see you tonight around 6. Take care of yourselves and each other._

_Sincerely,_

_Albus Dumbledore._

**(END OF HERMIONE'S POV)**

"What did mean by 'hopefully everything turns out alright'?" Hermione asked, curious.

"None of you business", Draco snapped. "You do realize that I refuse to do this whole 'go out with a filthy mudblood for two months' thing right?"

"Of course! I don't want to go out with an obnoxious stuck-up ferret either", Hermione stated. Hermione sat down to watch TV and Draco left. He walked around the house and after finding no source of entertainment, he sat on the couch next to Hermione and began to watch the movie she was watching.

'What are you watching?" Draco asked.

"Huh? Oh, Lord of the Rings", she replied.

"I don't want to watch Lord of the Rings. Put something else on", Draco demanded, reaching for the remote.

"No, I like this movie."

"But I don't."

"Have ever seen it Malfoy?"

"Of course I have! It's boring and has no point."

"Alright, shut up. I'm not changing the movie." Draco sighed and got up and stood right in front of Hermione, well, sat. His face was about 2 inches was from hers.

"CHANGE THE MOVIE", he yelled.

"No, Malfoy", Hermione sighed. "I refuse to change this movie just because you don't want to watch it. If you don't want to watch then leave. No one's stopping you", Hermione said, annoyed. Draco pouted yet Hermione showed no signs to listening to him. He sat back down next to her and continued to pout. About half an hour later he said, "Hey, Granger. You do know that our meeting with Dumbledore was supposed to be 20 minutes ago right?"

"WHAT?" Hermione screamed as she looked at the clock. It read 5:30. She turned to Malfoy. "Malfoy, I am going to KILL you. Do you really have to be so bothersome? Well, we better head over to the Headquarters. Thanks for not letting me enjoy the movie Malfoy".

"No problem", he smirked.

Half an hour later, Draco and Hermione could be found sitting in the kitchen of the Headquarters, waiting for Dumbledore to show up. Molly Weasley insisted that Hermione and Draco stay for dinner but Hermione explained how her mother had already made dinner. Finally Dumbledore showed up. Molly Weasley left the kitchen.

"My apologizes for being late", Dumbledore smiled.

"It's okay, sir", Hermione said.

"I have some very important news and a big favor I would like to ask you. One of the dangerous deatheaters have escaped and right now, everyone is busy with other deatheaters. Since I have not sent you on a mission and you're not doing anything at the moment, I was hoping if you would be able to help", Dumbledore said, waiting.

"Of course", Hermione replied.

"Great. The deatheater I'm talking about is Aster Zambini. I'm sure you know who that is Mr. Malfoy," Malfoy nodded, "He escaped the prison we had kept him in until his trial. I am almost positive he is in a muggle neighborhood. He's not in England but in the United States. The job I'm handing you is to find him. We've done many wizard searches but they have all failed. Zambini has also caused mishap in one of the little towns there. I'm leaving it up to both of you to find Zambini and hopefully be able to do something about the little town", Dumbledore said. "Now, I know both of you have your grudges against each other but I beg you both to set them aside and with any luck, finish this mission."

"I'd love help, sir, but I'm sure I can do it alone. Perhaps there's something you can assign for Malfoy", Hermione said. She could never say no to Dumbledore, not after all the things he had done for Harry, Ron, and her and also plenty of others. She also did not want to work with Malfoy. It would never work. All they would do is fight and argue and never get anything done.

"Mr. Malfoy will be helping you with this Ms. Granger. You cannot do it on your on. Also, Mr. Zambini would also attempt to kill you if he somehow found out about this. You're a muggle born and it would not be wise of me to send off to do this by yourself. You need Mr. Malfoy as protection and help Ms. Granger", Dumbledore said. Hermione sighed. "Please, I really need both of you to do this for me."

"I'll do it", Malfoy said surprising Dumbledore and Hermione.

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy", Dumbledore said with a smile. He then turned to Hermione expectantly.

"I'll do it too", Hermione said. She did not like this idea at all.

"Good, now I'll explain everything to both of your parents and I need you two to pack and be ready to leave by midnight. I've arranged a living space, a small house, in a town close by to the one I need you to keep an eye on. If anything happens, or any clues or pieces of information is found, you two can always come here and let me know. Any questions?" Dumbledore asked.

"What! Sir, I would love to help and all, but I refuse to live in the same house with her", Malfoy said, pointing at Hermione.

"Can't we just complete the mission from our homes?" Hermione asked.

"I don't know how you would be able to search for Mr. Zambini while living here in England and be able to keep an eye on the town and find out what's going on. It would much more convenient if you two were over there. Also, we would get better results", Dumbledore stated. Hermione and Draco unwillingly agreed to living in the same home.

"Ms. Granger, I'll meet you and Mr. Malfoy at your house at midnight. See you then. Goodbye", Dumbledore said.

"Bye sir," both said before they aparated home.

"Did they agree?" Severus said, walking in with Remus.

"Yes. They did" Dumbledore said.

"Albus, do you really think this is a good idea?" Remus asked.

"Of course. This way, I can accomplish two things. Maybe even three. Ms. Granger is intelligent and I am almost positive she will be able to help the village. I'm also positive Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger will be able to find Zambini. I know they will not stop till they do. Hopefully, on their journey, they find their love for each other and complete the prophecy", Dumbledore said. He got up. "Well, it's time for me to rest. See you both in the morning", with that said, he walked out of the kitchens and up to one of the bedrooms.

In the Granger household, Hermione and Draco sat there, explaining their current situation to their parents. Hermione's mom had a fit, screaming about how her daughter was to young to go around doing this stuff and that she could get killed. However, Mrs. Malfoy encouraged her son to help Dumbledore and find Blaise's father. She thought of this as an honor since she had great respect for Albus Dumbledore. Mrs. Malfoy tried to calm Mrs. Granger down and took her into the kitchen explaining everything to her and explaining who Dumbledore was. Hermione ran up to her room to pack, realizing she only had 2 hours and Draco headed over to his house to gather his belongings as well.

Two hours later, Hermione and Draco were sitting in the Granger's living room, waiting for Dumbledore. Mrs. Granger had calmed down and somewhat agreed to this whole situation, still very unhappy.

"Mother, I promise to write to you every chance I get", Hermione said, exasperated.

"But what if something happens?" Mrs. Granger asked worriedly.

"Nothing will happen. I will return home safe", Hermione replied. Dumbledore then appeared.

"Good even Mr. and Mrs. Granger, Mrs. Malfoy. Are you two ready?" Dumbledore said, looking at the two teenagers.

"As ready as I'll ever be", Hermione muttered.

"Yes, sir", Draco replied, respectfully, mainly because his mother was there. Draco Malfoy was not known to respect others much.

"Good, we must leave right away. I have some business elsewhere. We'll floo there. You're floo connection will be dropped once I return, so that we don't risk any unwanted guests entering", Dumbledore said. Hermione quickly bid her parents goodbye and Draco stood there, saying goodbye to his mother. Before he could leave, he was pulled into a hug from his mother and having his cheeks pinched and kissed.

"Take care of yourself sweetie", Mrs. Malfoy sniffed.

"I'll be fine mother", Draco said annoyed. He glared at Hermione who was trying hard not to laugh at the moment.

In a couple of minutes, Draco, Hermione and Albus Dumbledore were standing inside a small, cozy house. Draco looked around. '_This is nothing like the Manor. I can't believe I'm going to be staying here!_' he thought, disgusted. The house was too warm and cozy for Draco's liking however, Hermione loved it.

"I feel like I'm at my own house", Hermione said happily. Draco gave her a disgusted look and sat down.

"Well, I'll leave you two to get settled. I don't have time to talk right now. If you two need any help or have any questions, you can always owl me", Dumbledore said before he aparated with a pop. Hermione and Draco looked at each other before running off to find the biggest room. Hermione got there first and squealed in happiness.

"I get this room Granger. Go find another one", Malfoy drawled, standing at the doorway.

"No. I got here first so therefore it is mine! You should have gotten here quicker. Never thought you would be the slow one, Malfoy", Hermione said.

"No, it's MINE", Draco said stubbornly.

"I refuse to leave this room no matter what you say. I'd like to see you try to remove me", Hermione said, sitting down on the bed. Draco sighed and walked over to her. Without warning, he quickly picked her up and quickly ran into the room next door and threw her on the bed. He ran into the other room and locked it.

"I told Granger, this room is mine", he shouted from inside. By now, Hermione was fuming.

"How dare he! I got there first!", she muttered. Then she realized how childish she and Draco were behaving. '_Someone has to be the mature one during this whole mission. Might as well be me_', she thought. She went out into the living room to find Malfoy's stuff gone. She grabbed her stuff and organized it in her new room. Then she headed towards the kitchen to get something to eat before going to bed.

* * *

**Disclaimer- I own nothing but the plot. I wish I owned this. Then I'd be rich and famous and most likely not posting my ideas and thoughts in this website but instead, being to busy being the owner of Harry Potter. Lol**

**Was this chapter good? I haven't gotten as many reviews as I hoped but I'm hoping that the numbers of reviews will go up.**

**REVIEW and let me know what you thought of this and whether it's worthy of being continued or not.**

**- TragicTealeaves -**

**a.k.a.**

**- Nina -**


	5. Dark Woods Town

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
-----------------------------------------------  
Chapter 5  
Dark Woods Town**

The next morning, both Draco and Hermione could be found sitting in the kitchen. Hermione had offered to share some of the food she made with Draco but Draco refused, saying he would never eat anything made by a mudblood. Hermione sighed and continued eating while Draco sat there scowling.

"Malfoy, I think we should go and visit that town. I owled Dumbledore earlier this morning and he told me how to get there. We should get started on this as soon as possible", Hermione stated.

"Fine with me. I'm driving though", Draco said. Hermione almost choked on her tea.

"Your…driving? As in, you know how to drive?" Hermione exclaimed.

"Of course I do", Malfoy said, as if this was no big deal.

"But driving is a muggle thing! And I thought you despised muggles", Hermione said, shocked.

"Just because I'm not friendly with muggles doesn't mean I haven't ever used muggle devices. Also, some wizards, such as half-bloods drive", Draco said. "Are you done yet"

"Yes. Just give me five minutes to clean up and get ready", Hermione said. She washed the dishes and headed upstairs to get ready. She grabbed her wand, unsure of where to put it. 'I'll find a place later. I know I'm going to need it' she thought. Fifteen minutes later, Hermione walked down the stairs to find a angry Draco.

"I thought you said FIVE minutes. Stupid mudblood", Draco said as he walked out. Hermione glared but followed him out. She threw the paper with the directions at him and got in the car.

"What the fuck?" Draco swore. "You could've just handed me the paper." Draco drove for half an hour, following the directions on the paper. He had no idea where he was going and he thought they were lost but decided to continue following the road. Hermione was beginning to get scared. They were driving through a dark forest which was supposedly a shortcut. It was dark and she was almost positive they were driving around in circles. Dumbledore mentioned that it only took ten to fifteen minutes to get there and they had been driving for forty-five minutes now.

"Um, Malfoy. I think we're lost. Dumbledore mentioned that it only took ten to fifteen minutes to get there and we've been driving for forty-five minutes now", Hermione said.

"I think so too. Are sure these are the right directions?" He asked angrily.

"Of course I am!" Hermione defended. "Let's just go back home and I'll owl Dumbledore and ask him for a new set of directions"

"Umm, Granger, I have no idea how to get out of this place", Draco said, nervous. He looked over and saw a very pale and frightened Hermione.

"Tell me your just joking", Hermione said.

"Unfortunately, no", Draco sighed. He had no idea what to do and he was getting sick of just driving around. The fact that he was there with a mudblood didn't make him any happier. '_She's not really that bad. Kind of cute'_ he thought. He mentally slapped himself and decided that the lack of food is making him think things like this.

"M-Malfoy, did you hear tha-that?" Hermione stuttered.

"What?" he snapped. He listened closer and he heard voices ahead of them. He slowed down and then stopped the car.

"What are you doing?" Hermione whispered, scared.

"Come on, we're going to go see what's going on", Draco replied as he searched for his wand. He finally found it and looked at Hermione. "Well, what are you waiting for"

"No. Let's get back in the car and go home. This place isn't welcoming. It's dark and cold and I don't have a good feeling about this", Hermione said.

"Granger, let's go. Either you come with me or you can stay here alone while I go", Draco replied. He got out and started to walk. Hermione fumbled with the handle and quickly got out and ran to up to Draco and grabbed him.

"Wait, I'm coming", she said and she followed him deeper into the forest. The closer they got to the whispering, the more scared Hermione became. Suddenly Draco stopped, causing Hermione to bump into him. She looked past his shoulder to see two hooded men and a thin, pale man. Hermione gasped at the sight. She was almost positive those were deatheaters. She saw the pale man's jet black hair and his features looked somewhat like Blaise Zabini's. Hermione became even more frightened when the hooded figures looked her way. Draco suddenly grabbed Hermione and walked as quietly and quickly as he could to their car. He quickly shoved Hermione inside and drove off trying to make no noise at all. He looked at Hermione who looked pale and sick. '_Could that really have been Zabini?_' he asked himself. Hermione came to her senses and looked at Draco.

"Why did you pull me away? We were so close. One of us could've have distracted them and the other one could've have gotten Dumbledore or someone", Hermione exploded.

"Granger, are you kidding me? I know Zabini better than you do. Distracting two death-eaters and especially Zabini is as easy as you think. We could've died. We weren't prepared to fight them", Draco responded, stay as calm as he could. He knew Zabini had seen Hermione. He was surprised he actually cared about Hermione's safety. '_It's probably because almost everyone would kill me if they found out I let her die'_, he assured himself. '_I am NOT falling for Granger'_. He still had no idea where he was going. He looked at the watch. It was almost noon. They had been out for almost three hours. "Granger, I need you to keep an eye out for some way out of this place", Draco said.

"Okay. It's unusually dark here and cold", Hermione muttered. Hermione then saw a small piece of wood on a tree with a white arrow pointing to her right.

"Malfoy, how about we go in the direction that arrow is pointing?" Hermione asked, pointing at the tree.

"It could be a trap", Malfoy replied.

"What if it isn't"

"It could lead us to a place we might not want to end up.

"Can't we please try it"

"It could be Zabini's trap. He saw you, you know"

"Please? Come on, it might help us out of this place"

"Fine", Draco sighed. He went in that direction and drove for another ten minutes. Finally they reached a sign that said "Dark Woods Town".

"Hey Granger, I think this is the town Dumbledore was talking about. He said it took ten to fifteen minutes to get here. He's not very good with time", Draco stated.

"You're right!" Hermione exclaimed. "Now see, we wouldn't have gotten here if you hadn't listened to me!"

"Shut up!" Draco muttered.

"Dark Woods Town! Oh my god!" Hermione suddenly shouted, scaring Draco.

"Do you normally have random outbursts mudblood?" he snapped.

"Don't call me that!", she yelled before calmly continuing, "I read a book about this once! I don't remember much since I didn't really pay attention", Hermione whispered. She turned to Malfoy "This town is ancient! Let's go home and come back tomorrow. I want to read the book first!"

"What haven't you read about!", Malfoy muttered. Hermione glared at him and elbowed him.

"Why don't we just look around?" Draco asked, not sure why he did though. Deep down, he too wanted to go home. He was starving and tired.

"Can't we just go home?" Hermione pleaded. She couldn't believe she was actually doing this. She was tired and drained and wanted to do nothing but go home, grab something to eat and curl up with a good book. '_I guess the only book I'll be curling up with a the Dark Woods Town book_', she sighed. That thought didn't please her at all.

"Fine", Draco reversed and drove back the way they came. It took them about half an hour to get out of the dark forest and another fifteen minutes to get home. Hermione glanced at the directions and saw that the directions ended at the point where they entered the forest. Dumbledore was almost correct. It did take fifteen minutes to get to the forest but another half an hour to get to the town. As soon as Hermione got inside she went inside and made herself a peanut butter and banana sandwich. Draco walked into the kitchen and when he saw the sandwich his stomach made grumbling noises, which Hermione heard. Hermione felt bad and then offered him one whiling trying hard not to laugh. It turned out Draco hated peanut butter so he made himself a turkey sandwich. Hermione took her sandwich and headed upstairs deciding she would read while eating. When she got upstairs, she realized she didn't have her book with her. Immediately she owled Harry, asking him if he could owl her the book. He wrote back saying he would have it to her in a couple of hours. Hermione decided to go downstairs and finish eating down there. '_Might as well talk about the Zabini situation since I have nothing to do'_, she thought to herself.

As soon as she got downstairs, she saw Malfoy was no where to be seen. '_He probably went out'_, she sighed. She couldn't help be feel a little jealousy, thinking Draco was out at a bar with some random girl. With nothing better to do, Hermione decided she would go for a walk. Hermione continued to walk outside, unaware of where she was headed. As much as tried not to, she couldn't help but think about Draco. '_I wonder if we'll be able to make it through this little job. Him and I are always fighting. When is it going to end?_' Hermione thought. As much as she hated to admit it, she wanted Draco to think of her as something more than just a little mudblood. She wasn't asking him to love her, she just wished they didn't argue all the time. After about 20 minutes of walking, she looked around, taking in her unusual surroundings. She was in the middle of a dark park. Looking around her she saw a rotting bench and an old, rusty pair of swing sets and a slide. All of the sudden, Hermione felt cold.

"Why is it so dark and cold here?" Hermione asked herself. "It can't be night time already". She glanced at her watching and it was only 1:30. "This is so strange. As soon as I got deeper into the park, it got cold and dark. Oh god, I hope Zabini didn't transform this place as well", she whispered. Hermione looked around but saw nothing but emptiness. She decided she should get going since she left her wand home due to her stupidity. Suddenly she realized she had no way of getting out. She didn't know which way to go. The path going behind her disappeared into the darkness and did not look inviting at all. Hermione took a deep breath and headed back the way she came. Trying to be quiet, she walked through the dead leaves and the dark, cold park. She had no idea what was going on but she knew there was something. This is the second place she had come across that was this dark and cold. She heard footsteps in the distance and stopped. She had no idea what to do. _'Oh god, please someone come find me'_, she prayed. The whispers were getting louder and the footsteps had stopped. It seemed as if someone was arguing.  
Suddenly Hermione heard the noise of a car and turned around. She saw the bright lights and closed her eyes, waiting for the impact. When it didn't come, she slowly opened her eyes and saw Draco standing there. She was never so happy in her life to see him. Suddenly, the voices stopped and Hermione heard movement. She turned around and was shocked at what she saw. Ahead she saw two tall, dark men coming towards her. She felt Draco grab her and throw her into the seat and then drive off.

"Aren't you very smart? Wandering around, without a wand and then when there's danger coming towards you, you stand there! Unbelievable! Is this what you learned from being Potty's little sidekick?" Draco muttered to himself.

"That was the second time in one day I came close to catching Zabini!" Hermione cried.

"You didn't have your wand! Are you crazy"

"But…well…what were you doing there anyway!" Hermione said.

"When I didn't see you home, I figured you must've gone out. I decided to go out again and was driving by when I noticed the park and came in. You should be thankful I saved you", Draco said smugly.

"Thank you", Hermione sighed, giving in. In fact, she was thankful he had come along. Deep down she knew she would have not been able to handle two fully grown deatheaters.

"Next time, take your wand with you. I don't plan n making a habit of going around and saving a stupid mudblood like you", Draco muttered.

"I will. You won't ever find a reason to have to save or help me ever again", Hermione whispered, hurt and she headed upstairs to her room where she found her owl and next to it was the book "Truth Behind Dark Woods Town". She heard a knock on her door and mumbled "Come in". Draco opened the door and walked in. "Do you need anything?" Hermione asked.

"No, I was just wondering whether you had the book or not", Draco mumbled. He really did not know why he was there. He knew it was not because of the book. He then remembered he was there because he was going to apologize for saying what he had said earlier. He heard the hurt in her voice. '_No, no, no I don't like her!_', he mentally scolded himself.

"Yeah, I'm reading it right now. You can read it after I'm done", Hermione said nicely.

"I probably won't need to. If I get you started, you can recite the book to me", Malfoy smirked and he shut the door and went downstairs. Hermione scowled but continued to read.

"Why did I do that! Why? I'm so stupid", Malfoy muttered to himself, while sitting in front of the TV, not paying attention to what was on. He couldn't get Hermione out of his head. It was true, Draco did go out of his way just to tease Hermione. He loved making her angry. It was like a hobby for him.

* * *

**Disclaimer- Same thing as chapters 1, 2, and 3. Can't think of a creative way to say the same information…lol**

**Well…there you go. Chapter 5! very happy Soooooo…what do you think? Good? Bad? I thought it was pretty good, considering it came from me…lol. Anyways I edited this chapter a little. I realized I was going way to fast with the whole Hermione/Draco falling in love and then when I thought about it, I found out that I wanted to write it another way. **

**_Thanks to TWILIGHTGIRL for making me realized that. :D. Also, thanks to Usseful for correcting me in spelling Zabini's name. I never really knew how to spell it. I saw it spelled both Zabini and Zambini in fanfics so I just guessed and picked one..lol_**

**THANKS TO ALL MY REVIWERS WHO MAKE ME FEEL LIKE WRITING! I LOVE THEM ALL SO MUCH! (hands out cookies)  
**

**Keep reviewing and let me know what you think. Also, anyone interested in being my editor? I need someone I can send each chapter I write to make sure it's good and there are no mistakes. Sometimes I don't catch all the mistakes I make, unfortunately. If you want to, leave me your name and email in the comment and I'll email you back.**

**READ AND REVIEW! **

**- TragicTealeaves -  
A.K.A  
_ Nina_**


	6. Neighbors and Elizabeth

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
-------------------------------------------  
Chapter 6  
Neighbors and Elizabeth**

The next morning, Hermione walked downstairs, already ready to go. Suddenly, she smelled something burning. She looked around and sniffed around, literally. She noticed the smell was coming from the kitchen. She thought Draco was still in bed so thinking something bad must've happened, she quickly walked into the kitchen to find a Draco nursing his burnt fingers, attempting to get bread out of the toaster, which she noticed was what gave off the burning stench. She couldn't help but laugh. Draco turned around and glared and muttered something along the lines of "a stupid mudblood.

"Need help?" Hermione smirked.

"Not from a mudblood like you", he sneered. He was still nursing his finger which wasn't as bad as what he was making it out to be.

Hermione rolled her and said, "Malfoy, it's not even that bad"

"Yes it is! It burns", he whined back. Hermione sighed and walked over to him. She took a look at his finger and saw his skin was purple-ish. Looked as if it was bruised. It wasn't anything serious. She looked at Malfoy and shook her head.

"What!" Draco protested.

"You've never gotten a tiny burn?" Hermione asked.

"I never had a chance to be burned! I don't cook at home. That's what house elves are for", he replied.

"Obviously since the toast is black and the kitchen smells as if it was on fire", Hermione laughed, deciding to ignore the house elf comment. She didn't want to fight with Malfoy.

"Shut up", Malfoy muttered. He sat down on the table, thoroughly pissed. Hermione cleaned up the mess Malfoy had made and then decided to make him toast, feeling bad. She put it on a plate and placed it in front of him. He glared at her before eating it.

"So Malfoy, how about we go visit the town?" Hermione asked, taking a bite out of her bagel.

"Sounds good. Did you tell Dumbledore about the little park situation?" Draco asked.

"No. I didn't think it was much of a big deal", Hermione said.

"Oh, of course it wasn't a big deal. I mean, it was only dark, empty and we saw Zabini. Nah, I don't think Dumbledore needs to know, do you?" He said sarcastically.

"Fine. I'll tell him when I'm finished with my bagel", Hermione muttered, embarrassed.

Draco heard the doorbell ring and said, "Are you going to get it or not? Normally, one of my house elves would but since their not here, a filthy mudblood like you will do. You're close enough. Maybe even a step down", Malfoy smirked. Hermione turned even redder and gave Draco the coldest glare she could muster and used all her strength to stop herself from slapping that stupid smirk off his face. She got up and went to get the door. She opened it to find a woman with two boys who were twins and was holding a baby.

"Hello! I just noticed that you guys moved into this house. I live next door and I just came over to say hi", the woman said cheerfully. She reminded Hermione a lot like Molly Weasley, without the red hair. Not knowing what else to do and being the polite girl she was, she invited the woman in.

"Hello, sit down. Would you like anything to eat or drink?", Hermione asked, politely.

"Oh, No thank you dear. My name's Dora Widen. This house has been on sale for about 5 years now. I was wondering when someone would move in", she said, laughing. "Oh and this is Mark and Mike", she pointed at the twins who were tugging at both of her hands, "and this is our new one, Carrie.

"Hey", she said to the twins, who mumbled back a shy "hello". "My name's Hermione", Hermione began before Malfoy walked in.

"Hey, who is it?" Malfoy asked before looking at the woman and stopping. He gave Hermione a 'who the hell is that?' look and Hermione just ignored him.

"And that's Draco Malfoy", Hermione said.

"Oh, newly weds, I suppose? That's so cute", the woman said happily. "The lady who lived here before you two was unfortunately lonely and very young and she died though no one knew why. The police did many investigations and couldn't find any signs of her being murdered. There were no marks, no nothing! It's as if she just dropped dead. It was strangest thing", Dora said sadly. Apparently she was friends with the person who lived here, Hermione thought looking at Dora's saddened face. Draco walked over and took a seat next to Hermione. Hermione then realized the woman thought she and Draco we were married.

"Oh and no, Malfoy and I are not married", Hermione said.

"Oh, your not?" Dora asked curiously.

"No, we're just here because we have some business to take care of", Hermione said kindly. Hermione, being the curious one, asked more about the woman. Sounds as if someone Avada Kedavra-d her, she thought.

"Elizabeth, the lady who lived here, starting acting really strange one day. She would do the oddest things and went about calling all of us 'muggles' and 'bloody fools'. None of us who lived here understood what she was going on about. Some of us deemed her insane. We tried getting medical help, finding one of the best psychologist but no one could find out what was wrong", Dora said. "Not much is known about her case. Over time, the police even decided to close the case.

"And you say she just dropped dead?" Draco asked, startling Hermione who had forgotten he was there. "Ever saw her with a dark man or woman dressed funny"

"No", the woman replied looking at Draco suspiciously, as if he was involved somehow. She turned to Hermione, who she instantly trusted. "Well anyways, none of that is important. That's not the reason I came here. I just wanted to introduce myself, and I also dropped by to invite you two over for dinner tomorrow night, if it's possible". Hermione wasn't sure if they had the time. She had planned yesterday to be a search day. She also didn't want to be rude and she wanted to know more about this "Elizabeth" situation. The mysterious murder of Elizabeth would not leave her mind.

"Sure, we would be happy to come", Hermione replied sweetly. She did it for several reasons, one, she didn't want to be rude to a woman who was being kind to her and Draco. She also wanted to see if there was any way she could find out more about the Elizabeth murder. She knew that Draco would not like it. He would be furious and hate it. This was her payback for what he had said earlier. She looked over to Draco who was, surprisingly, looking calm.

"Okay. I'll see you two around six tomorrow evening?" Dora asked, happily.

"Sure", Hermione replied. Dora and Hermione exchanged goodbyes and she left. For two minutes, Draco just sat there in silence, trying his best to keep is temper down.

"Why the hell did you say yes?" Draco asked.

"She was being nice. I didn't want to be rude by saying no. I also wanted to find out more about Elizabeth", Hermione replied emotionless.

"What the hell were you thinking, woman? I don't want to spend the evening with filthy muggles! You could have at least asked me before you said yes for me too or you could've just said you would go", Malfoy screamed. Hermione walked over to Draco who was standing. Without a warning she slapped him as hard as she could. She was pleased when she saw a red mark begin to form. She raised her hand to slap him again but Malfoy caught it in time.

"What the fuck was that for?" he swore.

"For your insults. You need to grow up. You may not like muggles but you're going to have to deal with it because this world is full of them. Heck, your mother even moved into a MUGGLE neighborhood. Only magical person you can find there is me, you and your mother. Not everyone is a pureblood. If you really can't stand being around muggles, why did you decide to come along with me? Dumbledore could've possibly found a replacement, or better yet, he could've let me go alone. You say you hate muggles but here you are, spending the summer with me, a stupid, dirty mudblood. You can leave whenever you want. You can go back home right now. I don't need you, I can do this by myself. I thought maybe after your fathers death, this pureblood-mudblood nonsense would have left your head but I was clearly wrong. Also, if you hate me as much as you show, why didn't you just let Zabini finish me off when he had the chance? You shouldn't have saved my life yesterday, then maybe I would be here having this conversation with you and it would be one less mudblood. Isn't that what you always wanted? To get rid of every muggleborn alive? Especially me", Hermione said, whispering the last sentence to herself , in tears.

Draco was shocked. He heard every word she said and was shocked. She glared at him once more before running upstairs. Draco sat back down and began to think about what he did and why. _Why did I say that! We were actually getting along in the kitchen and treat her as an house elf and then call muggles filthy, call her dirty_, he thought. As hard as Draco tried, he could not get rid of the guilt that was building up inside of him. He couldn't believe that he cared about a stupid mudblood. He remembered the first time anyone besides his father had hit him. It was Hermione who dared to slap him in front of his friends in their third year. After that, he thought about her more and more. Not knowing what the feeling was besides guilt and regret inside of him, Draco shrugged off the feelings every time. What else could he do about? _Why did what I said affect her so much? She looked like she was about to cry_, he thought. Too bad Draco did not know Hermione's feelings towards him. Then maybe he wouldn't have said what he had. Or maybe he might have? Draco was really confused and frustrated.

"I should go and apologize", he muttered.

_WHAT! No way, Malfoys do not apologize. Ever_, he told himself. However, Draco found himself, walking up the stairs to Hermione's bedroom. He stopped right in front of her door, unsure what to do next. Should he go in, or just go back downstairs?

* * *

**Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter though I am part of the millions that wished they did. I only own this fanfic of mine.**

**Alright, well that was chapter 6! Yay! It's done! I'm happy. So, what did you think of this chapter? Good/bad/horrible/not worthy of being read? All comments/advice/criticism is welcome. As long as you're nice about it. As in, cursing or insulting will not do. However you can leave me ideas/comments/advice or even corrections to the mistake I may have made.**

**Anyone wanna volunteer to read over my chapters before I submit them?  
I've had like two offers so far, so I think I might just pick from one of them but if you want to still help, you can. I need a beta for The Story of Ella and Char (Ella Enchanted) and When Two Worlds Collide (a mix between Harry Potter and Series of Unfortunate Events, its actually turned out pretty good. Of course I'm not finished yet)**

**_READ AND REVIEW!_ Thanks to everyone that has reviewed. I appreciate it:D **

**- TragicTealeaves -  
A.K.A  
- Nina -**


	7. Apologies and Exploring Part I

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
---------------------------------------------------  
Chapter 7  
Apologies and Exploring Part I**

Draco stood there, still unsure of what to do. Should he go in and apologize, something he rarely did, or go back downstairs, where he was safer from her wrath. The guilt came back and he didn't know what to do. He was nervous and frightened? _No way, she's a girl, I'm not afraid of her_, he told himself. He heard noises coming from the room and leaned closer._ She's crying! I can't go in there now_, he thought as he turned around and practically ran down the stairs. He sighed, sat down and turned on the TV. Draco didn't have much experience with crying girls and so he was positive that he would not know the right thing to say. He continued to feel guilty and regret everything he had said to her which was something Draco did not do often. He decided to go into the kitchen and finish his breakfast and think about what to do with Hermione.

"Stupid, egotistical, jerk. Useless, idiotic, asshole, self-centered, bigheaded, dim-witted, brainless prick. Mean loser", Hermione continued mumbling various curses and words about Draco. None of them were good. By now Hermione was crying though she didn't know why. She didn't why Malfoy's words affected her so much.

"I don't care what he thinks about me! I don't like him, I don't, I don't, I don't!" Hermione repeated to herself. Eventually she stopped crying and decided to go downstairs and get something to eat. She opened the door and listened carefully but heard nothing. She figured Draco must've gone out for the day and went downstairs. _Stupid idiot didn't even turn off the TV_, Hermione thought, getting even more pissed. She walked into the kitchen, not really thinking about where she was going. She bumped into Malfoy, causing him to spill the orange juice on himself. Hermione glared at him, pushed him aside and walked into the kitchen and started to look for something to eat, trying hard to ignore Draco who was standing there, staring at her. _I should really apologize now, maybe then she won't be that pissed off at me_, Draco told himself.

"I'mreallydsorryaboutwhatIsaidearlier.Ishouldn'thaveandI'msorryforcallingyouamudbloodandmakingyoucry.Ihopeyou'renottoopissedoffatmerightnow", Draco mumbled all in one breath.

"What did you just say?" Hermione asked, looking at him as if he had grown two heads.

"I'm really sorry for calling you a mudblood, making you, making fun of you and everything I said about muggles. I hope you're not too pissed off at me", Draco said, slower and a little louder. He looked up to see a shocked Hermione.

"Did you just say…sorry?" Hermione asked, still unwilling to believe that Draco Malfoy, the biggest prick on the face of earth, had said sorry to her.

"Umm…yeah. I really am…uh…sorry for what I said earlier", Draco said again. _Hey, saying sorry isn't that bad after all_, Draco said inwardly.

"Uh, apology accepted", Hermione said uncertainly.

"Great! Does that mean you're not pissed off at me anymore?" Draco asked hopefully. He didn't know how he would get through this little job of theirs if Hermione was pissed off at him.

"No. I'm still mad at you and I will be for a while", Hermione said. Draco frowned.

"Fine, but can you tell me where I can get my t-shirt washed? It's getting kind of sticky", Draco said. Normally Draco would just hand his dirty clothes to his house elf who would have them washed and put in his room but the end of the day. He knew there were no house elves here and knew better then to say something like that to Hermione, who was still angry with him.

"Go get your clothes and put them in the washing machine", Hermione said. Draco gave her a confused look.

"It's in that room", Hermione pointed at the door on the other end of the kitchen. "Go get all your clothes that need to be washed and put them in the washing machine". Draco looked at Hermione and then headed off to his room to get his clothes.

Five minutes later, Draco Malfoy could be found standing in front of the washing machine, staring at it as if it were about to attack him. He had no idea what to do so he started to press random buttons. He pressed a round blue button and the machine started to make funny noises. Draco quickly pressed the button again, hoping it would turn off and it did. _Should I go and ask Hermione_? He walked out of the room and into the kitchen and saw no Hermione. He checked the living room.

"Hermione, um, do you know how to use the 'washing machine'?" Draco asked.

"Yeah", Hermione sighed. She got up and went into the laundry room to teach Draco how to do his own laundry. "Okay, first you put all of your clothes in this machine", Hermione said.

"Why not the other one?" Draco asked, putting his clothes where he was instructed to.

"Because that's the dryer.

"Oh"

"Now what?" Draco asked.

"You put this liquid in", Hermione said, handing him a small cup filled with blue liquid.

"Then"

"You press this round, blue button", Hermione said, pressing the button.

"No! I think you just broke it. I pressed this button before and the machine started making noises. See, it's doing it again", Draco said. Hermione started to laugh which earned her a glare from Draco.

"It's supposed to make that noise. It's not even that loud", Hermione said. She heard Draco mutter something about "stupid washing machines" and "muggles come up with the weirdest things.

"Since your so good at doing this, do you want to do my laundry from now on?" Draco asked in his most innocent voice. He was hoping for a yes.

"No", Hermione said. "Remember, I'm still mad at you.

"I already apologized", Draco said.

"So."

"Well, how long are you going to be mad at me."

"Why do you care."

"I don't.

"Then stop asking me all these questions", Hermione said and walked out of the kitchen. Draco was about to follow her out but then heard noise, well music. He looked around and saw a small muggle device that was making the sound. He picked it up cautiously. He quickly went to Hermione and dropped it on her lap.

"Oh! I forgot I brought my cell phone with me", Hermione said and she started talking. A minute later she got off the phone and looked at Draco, who was still shocked.

"What is that thing?" Draco asked.

"It's a cell phone. A Wizard's common way to communicate is through owls and muggles commonly talk to each other using phones of cell phones", Hermione explained.

"How do you use that thing?" Draco asked, curious. Hermione sighed and decided to teach him how to use a cell phone. Then maybe he would leave her alone? It took Hermione about half an hour to teach Draco to use a cell phone. By now, Draco could use a cell phone and feel comfortable. _I wonder if we're still going to go out and find Zabini_, Draco thought.

"Are we going?" Draco asked.

"Where"

"To visit the town?"

"It's only twelve right now. We don't have to be at Dora's house until six. Sure. I'll be down in five minutes", Hermione said and she got up.

Once she got to her room, she remembered she still had to write to Dumbledore. Deciding that she would write to him later that night, she got ready and went downstairs. Draco knew better than to complain about her taking too long so they both got into the car.  
After forty-five minutes, Draco and Hermione were standing at the entrance of the village, unsure of what to do. They had their wands in their pockets which they had magically enlarged (though they still looked normal). Hermione had finished reading the book but didn't tell Draco anything about it. _Why did Dumbledore send us here. I read about this place. Surely Dumbledore has read about it as well_, Hermione thought.

** FLASHBACK **

_"Dark Woods Town used to be a clean, respectable place where muggles lived happily. Over the years, dark wizards such as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named took over and charmed the place. Muggles, or anyone, living in Dark Woods town lives their life like their master wants them to. Their master would be the one to cast the spell. Three years ago, the spell was lifted. The dark wizards fled and left Dark Woods Town to help itself. Muggles went back to their normal lives. They remembered nothing from their past. It created confusion and chaos. Some believe the curse is not completely gone. Others believe different"_

** END OF FLASHBACK **

_The book says the spell was lifted but not entirely gone and Dumbledore says that Zabini put the spell on this village. Zabini is one of the dark wizards. None of this makes much sense,_ Hermione thought.

"Granger! Are you listening?" Malfoy screamed.

"What?" Hermione snapped.

"I said, lets go inside the town. You've been standing here for the past five minutes with the stupidest look on your face", Draco said annoyed.

"Shut up", Hermione muttered. "I was remembering something I read"

"There's no one here", Draco said looking around.

"Yes there is. Look over there", Hermione said as she pointed to some one next to the building on Draco's right.

"Oh"

"Let's go introduce ourselves. Maybe they can help us", Hermione thought.

"Oh yes. And then we can become best friends and have little tea parties", Draco said sarcastically.

"It was just a thought", Hermione said, offended.

"Well keep those stupid thoughts to yourself then", Draco muttered.

"Why? You never bother to keep your stupid "I hate mudbloods and muggles are filthy" thoughts to yourself", Hermione shot back. Draco sensed she was getting angry again and regretted what he said. He did not want to start another fight. He hated apologizing. Well, he wasn't going to apologize this time. Both of them walked into the town and looked around, not saying a word to each other.

* * *

**Disclaimer- No, sadly I do not own Harry Potter.**

**Now, I present to you, my new beta: TWILIGHTGIRL  
(claps)  
well, thanks to her, I pretty sure this chapter has no grammar mistakes.**

**Now since you've already read this chapter, all you have to do is REVIEW. Click on the little blue button at the bottom of the screen, type in what you thought and...well..review. lol**

**Hope everyone had a safe and happy holiday!**

**_- TragicTealeaves -_**


	8. Apologies and Exploring Part II

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
---------------------------------------------  
Chapter 8  
Apologies and Exploring Part II**

"Who are you two?"

Draco and Hermione turned around to find an old man. He was unusually pale and looked as if he hadn't eaten in months. The dark circles underneath his eyes clearly stated he hadn't gotten any sleep lately. He was short, dressed in an old faded pair of brown pants and a long black coat. His unusually black eyes stood out against his pale complexion. He had almost a ghostly look to him. Hermione and Draco glanced at each other, unsure of what to say. Should they give their real names?

"Hermione and Draco," Hermione whispered. She wasn't sure why she was afraid of him. Surely she would be able to defend herself from this old man, right?

"What are you two doing here? You do not live here," he said smiling wide, showing some of his black, rotten teeth. A couple were missing.

"How do you know we don't?" Draco snapped.

"I know everything that goes on around here and know about everyone who lived/is living here," he replied.

"Who are you?" Hermione asked.

"No one important", was his reply. "What are you doing here?"

"Well…see...umm…we're here to visit. I've read about this place and I wanted to see it in person. It seemed really interesting," Hermione said, smiling a little.

"You, my dear, are a horrible liar", the old man said, showing his rotten teeth again and making his face seem uglier than before. "Now, you two should listen to me and leave. You do not belong here and both of you are not wanted. You are not one of us. Both of you aren't welcome here." For some reason, the man scared Hermione and even though she tried her best to hide her fear, she failed miserably. Draco turned and glared at her.

"Why are we not welcome here?" Draco asked. _Stupid mudblood, couldn't she just keep her mouth shut! _Draco though angrily.

"Leave," the man repeated.

"Malfoy, how about we just go," Hermione squeaked. She grabbed Draco's hand and dragged him out of the town. She walked back to their car which was parked a little farther away from the town.

"Why couldn't you have kept your mouth shut!" he shouted.

"I thought it would convince him to let us stay if he thought we were tourist," Hermione replied.

"There was nobody on the streets. The town did not look like a place where tourists would visit. And you are a horrible liar," Draco said frustrated.

"Well, you didn't say anything so I did," Hermione argued back.

"I doubt we're going to be allowed back again," Draco muttered.

"We can come back when he's not here", Hermione suggested. "Or we could hex him and then tie him up and-"

"Shut up! I don't want to listen to any of your suggestions," Draco said. Hermione glared at him and got in the car.

"Do you want to try again tomorrow?" Draco asked. "We could come back, maybe earlier. I'm sure he won't be around then."

"Whatever," Hermione muttered.

Draco sighed. "Alright, I do want to listen to your suggestions."

"How about we try and find out more about this village before coming back?" Hermione suggested.

"Alright."

"I'll give you the book and you can read it today and tonight we can discuss it and plan on what we're going to do," Hermione said happily.

"What! I'll only have about 2 1/2 hours to read it!"

"It's not that long, really."

"How long is it?"

"Erm, about 700 pages? Something in the 700's"

"Can't you just tell me what was in the book?" Draco whined. _I am not gonna read a book with 700 and some pages! I refuse! She can't make me_, Draco thought.

"I would really like for you to read it," Hermione said turning to him. "It's not even that long and you have plenty of time."

_Is she joking? _Draco thought.

_I don't see why he has a problem with the reading! _Hermione said to herself.

"I'm not a bookworm! Or a little know-it-all. Bookworms like you have no problem with reading cause that's all you ever do. I, on the other hand, have a life," Draco retorted. He instantly regretted what he said for the second time that day.

_I can't help it, it's an habit. I really have to stop doing this! She's going to kill me one day and then I won't be able to annoy her any more which is so much fun! Also she looks cute when she's mad…wait. No, no, no! She doesn't! She's filthy, _Draco thought. _I guess I'll have to apologize all over again._

When he pulled into the driveway and turned off the car, Hermione got out as quick as she could and slammed the door. Draco sighed and followed her into the house. He walked into the house and shut the door and turned around. SLAP! He was not expecting that. He was also not accepting that. Nobody hit a Malfoy. He glared at her. He knew he would have a red mark. Before he could say anything, Hermione ran up the stairs. Draco sighed and followed her. He opened the door cautiously and stepped back. When no objects flew through the door, he thought it would be safe to go in. As quietly as he could, he shut the door. He looked around the room and spotted Hermione. In the corner, in front of the closet, changing. He couldn't help but stare. _Who knew a mudblood could look so good_, Draco thought. Hermione turned around while pulling on her sweat pants and saw Draco and screamed.

"GET OUT!" she shrieked. "OUT! NOW!"

"But-" Draco didn't get a chance to finish the sentence because a book came flying towards him and hit in the face. "Ouch, you know, that hurt!" He turned away and Hermione quickly put on the rest of her clothes and blushed from embarrassment and anger.

"Malfoy, out, now," Hermione said glaring and walking over to him and trying to shove him out the door. Draco turned around and grabbed her.

"Alright, stop. I'm not leaving," Draco said as he led her to the bed. He forced her to sit down and laid down on the bed.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked angrily.

"Laying down, obviously. Hah, and you're supposed to be smart," Draco smirked.

"What makes you think that you can come in here and do what you please after saying all those rude things to me? And why would you even want to be in a filthy mudblood's room? After calling me a mudblood, bookworm, know-it-all and be as uncivil to me as possible, you think you can just walk in here and I'll welcome you with open arms? NOT TO MENTION YOU WALKED IN ON ME CHANGING AND YOU STOOD THERE AND STARED! And you…you-" Hermione was cut of by Malfoy's lips.

"That was to shut you up," Draco smirked. "Now, I'm sorry for what I said earlier and staring at your half dressed body. Insulting you just comes naturally to me. And I'm here to get the book. Apology accepted?" Draco said.

"NO!" Hermione shouted. She was about to begin talking but Draco stopped her.

"Please, don't. You talk way to fast and it's giving me a headache. Alright, I'll do this one more time and only once more. Malfoy's do not apologize often. I'm really, really sorry for everything I've done. Don't be mad at me," Draco said.

"Fine," Hermione muttered.

"Good, now can I have the book?" he asked. "Well, if you're in the mood to explain it to me and save me from all that reading, feel free to do so."

Hermione handed him the book and said, "Leave," and couldn't help but smile.

"Nope, I think I'm comfortable where I am," Draco said, laying back down and opening the book.

"No. I need some peace and quiet and I would like to read so go. Go read downstairs or in your room," Hermione said.

"No," Draco repeated. "Why don't you go downstairs and read, though I don't mind if you want to stay here with me."

"Fine! I'm going into your room to read and I'm going to get all my dirty mudblood germs on your bed," Hermione said, hoping he would leave.

"I don't care. Also, I'm the only one allowed to call you a mudblood, got it?" Draco said. Hermione gave him a angry look and walked out and went into Draco's room. _Wow, it's clean. I didn't think he would be able to keep a clean and organized room_, Hermione thought, amazed. Hermione looked at the clock and knew she had plenty of time left before she would have to get ready and had nothing to do. First, she wrote the letter to Dumbledore she planned on writing all day and then curled up on Draco's bed with a romance book. _Smells just like him! And good too_, Hermione thought, smiling as she sniffed his covers. After about half an hour, Hermione fell asleep with the book on her lap.

Draco, on the other hand, was extremely frustrated with himself. For the past half hour he had been trying to read the book but every few minutes his mind would wander and he would end up thinking about Hermione. Finally he got up and went into his room. He didn't think Hermione was serious when she said she would go into his room but he soon figured out how wrong he was. Draco stood there, staring at sleeping Hermione. At first he was going to walk away and let her sleep but then an evil idea popped into his head. He thought of ways he could wake Hermione up, none of them being too mean. He wasn't ready to get yelled at again by Hermione_. I'm bored and this could be amusing. Besides, it's not like I'm going with my first idea. I'll wake her up instead of falling asleep next to her and seeing her reaction_, Draco said to himself. Since he couldn't use his wand, he went into the bathroom, grabbed a bucket of ice cold water and took it back to his room. He decided Hermione could always put his covers in the thing muggles call a dryer for him. Draco lift the bucket and poured all the water onto Hermione who got up right away.

"MALFOY!" Hermione screamed.

"Yes dear?" Draco asked sweetly.

"You…you…brat!" Hermione yelled. She couldn't think of anything else to say. She glared at Malfoy and soon realized that he was now staring at her chest. She looked down and saw her shirt was see-through due to the fact that it was wet. She stomped out of Draco's room, pushing him aside causing him to almost fall. Draco smirked and went after her. He loved torturing Hermione and making her mad. Draco waited outside of Hermione's room, knowing that she would come out soon after she was dressed to yell at him some more. The minute Hermione stepped out, Draco wrapped his arms around her.

"So Hermione, are mad at me again?" Draco asked, knowing the answer. Hermione elbowed him hard but it only hurt Draco a little. He pulled away and smirked at her.

"Go to hell," mumbled Hermione.

Draco pushed Hermione lightly back into her room and shut the door. He picked her up and dropped her on the bed, getting on the bed as well. He sat down against the pillows and pulled Hermione onto his lap. He pulled the covers over both of them and picked up the book.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?" Hermione shouted in his ear.

"I'm right here, no need to shout! If I have to read this book, you have to stay here as well. Now, if you want me to let you go, you'll tell me everything that went on in this book," Draco smirked.

"No! I'm really tired right now and I want to take a nap so get out," Hermione said. She waited. Nothing happened. "Fine, I'll go." She tried getting up several times but failed miserably.

"Tell me what's in this book and I'll let you go," Draco said. "Now stop moving. I'm trying to 'read'". _Stupid idiot. A comfy one though_, Hermione thought. She wanted to take a nap but didn't want to get up. _It's my room! He can go read in his own room_, she said to herself. _I'll stay here. He'll eventually get up and leave because he wouldn't want mudblood germs on him_. So for the next 20 minutes Hermione sat there silently, also reading along. For a while they both forgot where they were. Draco forgot he still had Hermione in his arms and Hermione forgot she was in Draco arms. Hermione finally fell asleep, without meaning to and after ten minutes, Draco did the same. Both of them forgot all about the other.

* * *

**Disclaimer- Same as the other seven chapters. lol**

**uhh...okay. That was chapter 8. Sorry I haven't updated in forever. I had finals coming up...we have finals because of block scheduling and all that. Well anyways, that kept me from writing anything. I also couldn't really think of anything to write for a while. **

**I'm also looking for a beta. Lemme know if you want to beta this fanfic.**

**Tell me: Good? Bad? Disgraceful? Awesome? or...? lol**

**_REVIEW! Thanks to those who have reviewed!_**

**- TragicTealeaves -**


	9. Dinner Surprises

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
---------------------------------------------------  
Chapter 9  
Dinner Surprises**

Draco Malfoy awoke with an awful headache. _Oh great, I fell asleep. Granger's gonna kill me for not reading that book_, was his first thought. Draco was about to forget about the book and was continue sleeping when he remembered the stupid dinner invitation Hermione had accepted. _I am going to kill that woman one day_! He was not in a good mood and on top of that, there was another human being on top of him. He opened his eyes and realized what was happening. Hermione Granger was asleep, on top of Draco Malfoy. "This is wrong is so many ways", Draco muttered. He tried to move and get out of Hermione's room before she woke up but failed.

Hermione awoke a hour later and looked around. Not realizing who she was on top of, she turned to look at the clock. _Oh no! Only an hour to get ready! Where's Malfoy? Why didn't he wake me up_, Hermione thought trying to get up. She felt something soft and hairy next to her neck move. _I don't remember owning any stuffed animals and my pillow isn't hairy_, she wondered. She quickly twisted around and found herself face to face with Draco Malfoy and screamed. Since Draco had awoken a few minutes before and was a little more awake, he quickly put his hand over Hermione's mouth and soon found out that was a bad idea. Not being able to scream as loud, Hermione bit his hand, making Draco curse and pull his hand away.

"Stop screaming! And you BIT me!" Draco yelled.

"What are you doing in MY bed!" Hermione screamed. She then remembered what happened a hour ago and groaned. "I can't believe I fell asleep on Malfoy! Stupid idiot," Hermione mumbled. She got up and glared at Draco.

"Well, what are you waiting for? We have 45 minutes to get ready! No thanks to you," Hermione spat.

"Me? You fell asleep too!" Malfoy protested. I can't believe I slept with Granger, Draco thought and then smirked, realizing how wrong the statement sounded.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Go get ready and wipe that stupid smirk off your face!" Hermione ordered.

"Yes mother," Draco said before getting up to go and get ready.

Half an hour later, Hermione and Draco met downstairs, ready to go to Dora's house. Hermione had a mental list of questions she planned on asking. A lot of them had to do with Elizabeth. _Dumbledore hasn't owled me back yet, I wonder why_, she thought. Hermione decided the next time she owled Dumbledore, she would include Elizabeth. Maybe he knew something about her.

"Are you ready?" Draco asked.

"Yep. Let's go," Hermione replied.

Both of them walked over to Dora's house who welcomed them eagerly. She led them into the living room and told them she would be right back. Hermione looked around the room and noticed it was unusually dark. She didn't imagine Dora would be the type of person with the dark gray walls and almost pitch black ceilings. This room somehow made her feel depressed and she wondered whether Dora felt that way too.

"Why is this room so dark? Reminds me of the Malfoy Manor," Draco said.

"I don't know," Hermione whispered. Hermione was about to think of a logical explanation when she heard a scream.

"Did you hear that?" Hermione asked, looking towards the door on the opposite side of the room, where the noise had come from.

"Yeah. Come on. We're going to go and find out what that was", Draco said, grabbing Hermione.

"No, I think we should just stay here", Hermione argued. Draco shook his head and half dragged Hermione towards the door. As Draco got closer to the door, Hermione and Draco could hear sobs coming from the room. It sounded like a little child. Thinking something happened to the little kids, Draco opened the door and was shocked at what he saw. The twin boys, Mark and Mike were sitting next to their mother with tears running down their faces, trying to wake up their mother who looked very pale. The baby, Carrie, was laying right next to the mother, still as a rock. _They're dead_! Hermione first thought. She quickly went over to the baby and the mother and tried to find a pulse but failed.

"A wizard must have done this!" Draco exclaimed.

"You're right. Somebody must have used the Avada Kedavra", Hermione whispered. There was no other explanation. When she had seen Dora earlier, she looked healthy and find. There's no way that could have just dropped dead. She bent down and hugged the crying boys and trying to quiet them. Draco bent down and asked the little boy.

"Hey. Can you tell me what happened? What you saw?"

"Are-Are you the police?" One of the boys hiccupped between sobs.

"He's sort of like the police," Hermione said to the two boys.

"Mommy was about to get the dinner out when a man in a black cloak appeared out of no where. It was like magic. And then…then…he said some weird words and…," the boy stopped. His twin continued. "And there was lots and lots of green light and then mommy and Carrie just fell asleep. And they won't wake up!"

"I'll be right back," Draco said to Hermione before disappearing.

* * *

"Is Dumbledore here? Snape? Anyone?" Draco asked Mrs. Weasley.

"Malfoy? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be helping Hermione complete the task you two have been given? I hope you didn't leave her alone Draco," warned Mrs. Weasley.

"I don't have time to explain. Is Dumbledore here".

"No but Remus is", Molly said just as Lupin appeared at the door.

"Hello Draco", he said calmly. Draco went over to Remus and started to quietly explain what happened. He told them what the boys said.

"I think this is Zabini's doing. He's seen us several times," Draco said.

"Come on, I want to go see the woman," Remus said, taking Draco's hand. The two of them apparated back to the house.

* * *

"This is worse than we thought," Remus muttered.

"What are we going to do?" Hermione asked.

"I'll have to talk to Albus when he gets back tomorrow. He got a letter this morning and ran off," Remus said.

"Where?" Draco asked.

"I don't know. He didn't tell anyone. Do you think you could keep the kids with you over night? Tomorrow Albus and I will come, probably in the morning, and we can try to figure all of this out", Lupin requested.

"Sure," Hermione said.

"No. Can't Mrs. Weasley take care of them?" Draco asked.

"I assure you that this arrangement will not be permanent. You'll only have to take care of them till we can figure out what's going on and what to do with them", Remus said sternly.

"Fine," Draco replied.

"This is probably what happened to Elizabeth," Hermione whispered.

"Elizabeth who?" Remus asked. Hermione quickly retold the story Dora had told her the day they met. Hermione thought there was a connection between the two deaths and was almost positive. Lupin wasn't as sure as Hermione.

"I wonder how many people Zabini has killed. We need to find him and we need to find him soon," Lupin said. "I want you to take the kids with you Hermione and I promise I'll try to get to your house by noon. Dumbledore's supposed to be back tomorrow morning. If anything happens, or you need anything, just come back to the order or send an owl. And most importantly, keep an eye out for Zabini. You too Draco. Come on, I'll walk with you to your house," Lupin said.

"Shouldn't we get some things for the kids? Get their stuff and take it with us," Hermione said.

Lupin told them to wait, went upstairs and brought down a trunk full of clothes and a few toys. Hermione went into the kitchen and grabbed some milk bottles and baby food while Draco attempted to gather the kids. Mike and Mark refuse to go near him. Draco looked at the twins closely while waiting for the other two to finish and thought it was creepy how similar the boys looked like him when he was a child. Both has the same blonde hair, pale faces and eyes. They could pass as Draco's kids.

"We're ready," the two said. They walked over quietly and Lupin helped the two get settled in. It took a long time explaining things to Mike and Mark since those two refuse to listen. They immediately became attached to Hermione and refuse to go near Draco. They did talk to Lupin. With one final goodbye, Remus left the two teenagers and the kids alone.

"Don't be afraid of him. He won't do anything," Hermione said sweetly, trying to get the boys to sit down on the couch and get off her arm so she could decide what to do about dinner. She didn't know about the others but she was starved. Since it was only eight o'clock, she figured the pizza place was still open and ordered some. Draco was willing to eat anything and the kids liked pizza.

"When will mommy wake up?" Mark, or was it Mike, asked. Hermione paled. She wasn't sure what to tell them so she went with the first thing that came into her mind.

"She's just very sick. She's at the hospital and will be better soon," Hermione said.

"Are you sure?" asked the other one.

"Yes".

"That was stupid," Draco whispered. "You could've at least been more creative." His smirk got him a glare.

"Alright, the first thing we need to do is figure out who's who," Draco said.

"I'm Mark," the one with dimples said.

"I'm Mike," the one without dimples added.  
"Who are you?" both chorused.

"Draco Malfoy," the blond said.

"Hermione and Draco," Mark began. "Mike, don't they sound familiar."

"Yeah, sort of. I can't remember," Mike replied. Hermione looked a little surprised. She decided not to make much of it and went to go get the door.

Dinner was spent in silence. All four of them had so many things on their minds that no one really realized how quiet it had become. Hermione was nervous about this. She had this really bad feeling in her stomach and something told her and there was more to the kids. She quietly observed them during dinner and was freaked out at how similar the boys and Draco looked. She wasn't sure how but she knew there was connection between Elizabeth's and Dora's death. I_ don't think Zabini did this. It's someone else. Zabini did not do this_, Hermione thought. She wasn't sure how she knew but she knew that it couldn't have been Zabini. She desperately wished Dumbledore was there. She wished Harry and Ron were with her but she knew how busy they were. Harry and Ron were both on separate journeys and Harry frequently traveled along with Dumbledore. Ron was one of the many aurors trying to find the remaining death eaters.

_This is really scary. These two little kids are like my mini-me's_, Draco thought. He thought this whole thing was crazy and wanted nothing more than to find Zabini, get rid of him forever and go back home where he wouldn't have to be around Hermione as much. He didn't think they could over get along though he wished they could. Draco may love annoying Hermione but an angry Hermione always equals trouble. Draco knew there was more to this problem. There had to be more Dora's death. He knew that he was missing important pieces of information, he just didn't know what those pieces were.

"I'm done! Is it bath time now?" Mark asked.

"I don't wanna take a bath! Not today, not ever. I hate baths," Mike said. "We don't have to take one."

"Yes we do. Mommy always made us take baths."

"Be quiet Mark."

"Alright, you two can take a bath in the morning. Does that sound good?" Hermione asked. She knew she should give them their baths but she was too tired.

"Okay," both replied.

"Alright, you two should get to bed now. Come on. Oh and Draco, clean up," Hermione smirked.

"What! No, I refuse. You can not ma-," Draco stopped, realizing Hermione had left the room. "Stupid mudblood."

* * *

**Disclaimer_- No, I don't own Harry Potter but I am one of the millions that wish I did._  
**_**So how was it? I'm so sorry it took me this long to post it. Between school, activities and stuff I didn't have much time to write. Now I have a little free time so I might be able to get the next chapter up in two weeks. For those of you who love this fan fiction, don't worry I won't abandon it.  
**_

**Thanks to all my lovely reviewers!**  


_**So now…review and lemme know. Good? Bad? Horrible? Fantastic?…be creative.**_

**_- TragicTealeaves -_**


	10. More Discoveries and Moving News

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
--------------------------------------------  
Chapter 10  
More Discoveries And Moving News**

After cleaning up, Draco was exhausted. Never having to clean at home, the poor boy was tired and angry at Hermione. Now Draco was in no mood for surprises so when he opened the door, he was ready to kill. He barged into Hermione's room and saw she was asleep.

"Get up mudblood!" yelled Draco.

"What?"

"Why the hell are the two little boys in my room?"

"Well, they need somewhere to sleep. You can sleep on the couch. Now go, I'm sleepy," said Hermione oblivious to the fact that Draco was angry.

"No. Get them out of my room. You didn't even ask! I am not sleeping on the couch," yelled Draco.

"Stop screaming. I'm tired and you'll wake the boys up! Now stop being selfish and just go to sleep," Hermione said angrily.

"Me, being selfish? What about you? Why can't they have your room?" Draco demanded.

"Look Malfoy, I'm tired and I don't feel like arguing with you so why don't you just go and sleep on the couch? We'll figure something out tomorrow okay?" Hermione said and she fell asleep.

"I don't think so," Malfoy muttered. If he couldn't have his own bed, he was going to take Hermione's. He was not going to spend the night sleeping on the couch. He was a Malfoy for god's sake. Malfoy's always get what they want well, that's what Draco believed. He crawled into bed with Hermione and saw Hermione was asleep. '_I can't believe I'm sleeping in the same bed as a mud blood, for the second time in one day!_' he thought angrily. But Draco was tired and so he fell asleep right away.

"Mark, hey Mark. Get up," Mike said while shaking his twin brother.

"I'm up. What do you want?" Mark said.

"I don't know. I'm bored. Should we wake the others?"

"Nah, what if they get angry?"

"But I'm bored! Besides, it'll be fun," Mike pleaded. "I don't wanna do it alone."

"Fine but we better not get in trouble," Mark warned.

"Hopefully."

"Who first?"

"Draco!"

"Okay."

Both boys sat there for a little, trying to think of a the perfect plan. Mike would come up with the ideas while Mark would turn them down. Mark was never the one to go looking for trouble however his twin just loved pulling pranks. Both boys had no idea what Draco's reaction could be. After ten minutes Mike gave up.

"Fine. Then how are we supposed to wake him up?"

"We can poke him. That always gets mommy up," Mark said.

"Okay," And so the twins headed downstairs and looked everywhere but couldn't find Draco. "Where could he be?"

"Probably upstairs in the other room," Mark said. They went into Hermione's room and found Draco and Hermione asleep. Mike looked at Mark and said:

"You first."

"No you."

"It was your idea."

"But you wanted to wake him up."

"Fine we'll both do it."

"On the count of three?"

"One."

"Two."

"THREE." Both of them poked Draco's arm and after a minute when nothing happened, they tried again. After five minutes of poking, they quit.

"Water?" Mike asked.

"Okay." They went into the kitchen as quietly as they possibly could and came back a few minutes later with two glasses filled with ice cold water. On the count of three, they poured it on Draco. Draco shot up and grabbed his wand. After seeing the two boys, he put it away. Needless to say, Draco was furious.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" he yelled. However, he hadn't realized his yelling would wake Hermione up. The twins looked fearfully at Draco and ran to the other side of the bed where Hermione was now wide awake and glaring at Draco.

"I knew we shouldn't have woken him up," Mark whispered.

"You're right, he looks really angry," Mike said.

"I don't like getting in trouble," Mark whispered as he started to cry. As soon as he did, Mike did too. Hermione wrapped her arms around the twins and tried to get them to stop.

"Draco," Hermione glared.

"They…they poured ICE COLD water on me!" He protested. He knew an angry Hermione equaled trouble.

"That doesn't mean you could yell at them. They're only little kids!" Hermione said furiously. Hermione wiped the tears off the boys faces and sent them off to their room. "I'll be right there to give you a bath okay boys?" Hermione said gently.

"Okay," Mark sniffled and both of them walked out.

"Draco Malfoy, you had no right to yell at those boys. I know you're pissed I gave your room to them and that they pour water over you but they're little boys. They meant no harm. It was probably a little joke of theirs. How could you even YELL at two adorable little five year olds? And you made them cry!" Hermione yelled. Draco sighed. He had no idea what to do or say but before he could even think of something to say, Hermione stormed out of the room. '_Today's going to be a long day'_, Draco predicted.

After everyone was showered and fed, Hermione sat down on the couch to relax a little before Dumbledore and Lupin arrived. She was exhausted. Mark had been calm throughout the bath while Mike would do everything Hermione told him not to do. No matter how big the mess was, Hermione just couldn't get mad at the little kid. Draco had apologized again and Hermione decided to forgive him since she didn't have the strength to yell or fight at the moment which Draco was grateful for. Hermione conjured up some toys and some movies to keep the twins preoccupied in their room.

"Draco, did you ever get anyone pregnant?" Hermione asked randomly.

"No, why would you think that?" Draco smirked.

"I'm not sure if you've noticed, but those kids look exactly like you," Hermione said quietly.

"I know and it's a little scary," Draco replied, frowning. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't seem to figure out what was going on and why the two kids looked like him. Draco sat there thinking and enjoying the quiet when Hermione suddenly decided to break it.

"MALFOY!"

"What?" he replied angrily.

"Oh not you! The other one! You're father!" Hermione said.

"Are you kidding me? My father would NEVER sleep with a muggle let alone get her pregnant and keep the kids!" Draco said.

"Maybe Dora was a witch?" Hermione said.

"No way. If she was a witch, the ministry would know she died and be at her doorstep the minute it happened. All witches and wizards are registered there," Draco replied.

"But what if she wasn't registered? OR what if the ministry already thought she was dead and what if she was under the imperious curse and the death eaters were using her!" Hermione said all very fast.

"Granger, breathe. Now start all over and go slow," Draco demanded.

"What if Dora WAS a registered witch and what if the ministry thinks Dora's already dead?"

"You mean, what if Dora faked her death before?"

"Yeah."

"Nah, it's not easy to fool the ministry." Before Hermione could say anything, Dumbledore, Lupin, Tonks and Snape apparated into the room.

"We found out more information on Dora," Lupin began.

"What we're going to tell you might come as a shock to you, especially you Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore said slowly. "Dora is a witch and I'm assuming Ms. Granger figured that out. Dora had a twin sister, Linda, who died 8 years ago. Both twins were registered. Dora's file states her as dead and Linda's file is missing. So your neighbor could be Dora or Linda, there's no way knowing. Their DNA will be the same and there is no test that can be performed by a mediwitch to tell you who is who. We have looked at the body and found a Dark Mark so to find her true identity, we have to find a death eater. The twins do belong to Dora but they also belong to Lucius Malfoy. Yes Draco, your father got Dora, or Linda pregnant."

"We believe Dora was helping Zabini out." Lupin added.

"I knew it!" Hermione said excitedly. "That's what I was telling Draco before you guys arrived. Now it makes a little more sense as to why the children look so much like Malfoy. I have a question, what if Dora, or whoever she is, was under the imperious curse?"

"That's one possibility but I think the answers to these questions can be found if we find Zabini. The only thing we know for sure is that both the twins are now dead," Snape said.

"Speaking of Zabini, the next time you two see him, you need to be well prepared. You cannot just let him walk away. I want you to first get him alone and then stupefy him and bring him straight to the headquarters. I've also been doing some research but I can't find much on Dark Woods Town. I sent Lupin to Dark Woods Town and he was not successful either. As you know, we have other things going on and other places to fix so we haven't had much time to go exploring. Also, Ms. Granger, I am still trying to find out who Elizabeth is but it's a very difficult thing since we do not know her last name and we do not have her body," Dumbledore continued.

"There's a lot that needs to be told to you but it would take all day to explain everything and most of the things we've discussed last night were assumptions. There are too many pieces still missing. First we need to find the missing file on Linda which Ginny is currently doing. Since we've involved her, she may also drop by with any bits of information she finds. If you two find anything, you may owl one of us or just come to the headquarters," Tonks said.

"Lastly, Mrs. Weasley has agreed to take care of the twins and so we will take them today," Dumbledore said.

"Alright, they're in Malfoy's room. Should I go get them?" Hermione asked.

"Yes, how about we all come with you?" And so the group of them headed to Draco's room where the found the twins glued to the TV. '_It's a good thing they like Finding Nemo_,' Hermione thought, smiling.

"Mike, Mark," Hermione said, distracting the twins.

"Hi Hermione!" Mark said happily.

"Hi," Mike mumbled, not taking his eyes off the TV.

"I have some exciting news. You two are moving. You're going to be staying with a lady named Mrs. Weasley," Hermione said.

"But…but we don't want to go!" Mark said, frowning.

"We like it here," Mike added.

"Can we stay?" the twins pleaded, pouting.

"I'm sure you'll like it at the Weasley's house," Lupin said, smiling down at the two kids. Tonks was busy gathering up the twins belongings.

"You'll love it where you're going. I'll be there too!" Tonks said happily.

"Will Hermione be there?" Mike asked.

"No, sorry," She replied.

"Then we don't want to go," Mark said stubbornly.

"God Malfoy, they're just as stubborn as you!" Hermione whispered.

"How about Draco?" Mike asked randomly.

"Draco won't be there," Lupin replied.

"Then we definitely don't want to go," Mark said.

"Mr. Malfoy and Ms. Granger are very busy. They'll still come a visit you but they won't be able to take care of you as well," Dumbledore said.

"No. We want Hermione and Draco!" Mark said, starting to tear up.

**Well that was the end of Chapter 10. Sorry for not updating in a long time. I don't know why but I haven't been in the mood to write but now I'm back on track. Yay for me.**

**As usual I would love feedback so let me whether this was good, bad, terrible, or whatever you think.**

**_Remember I LOVE REVIEWS!_**

**- TragicTealeaves -**


	11. Blaise, Draco and Harry

My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
-----------------------------------------------------------  
Chapter 11  
Blaise, Draco and Harry

"Why can't Hermione come with us?" Mike asked.

"Well, because they have to stay here. They have a job to do and it would be very hard for them to do it while taking care of you two," Tonks explained kindly. '_These two are so adorable but they do look an awful lot like Draco_', she thought.

"But we won't bother them," Mark said.

"We can help too," Mike said eagerly.

"I promise, Draco and I will come visit you," Hermione said, smiling.

"But what if you don't," Mike argued.

"We will," Draco said. "Promise."

"They'll come visit you everyday," Tonks said reassuringly. After about another half an hour of arguing, Tonks, Lupin, Dumbledore, and Snape left with two crying boys. Even though they eventually agreed to go, they still left in tears. Draco found it odd that the boys still wanted him around even after he had lashed out earlier and suddenly felt guilty for what he had done. Hermione was right, they were only little boys trying to have fun.

After they left, Hermione and Draco sat in the living room for twenty minutes in silence, each thinking about the day's events. _'These kids could pass as my own_,' Draco thought. '_I can't believe father would cheat on mother_,' he thought angrily. Deep inside Draco felt as if the twins were now his responsibility. After all, they were his siblings and now with Lucius gone and their mother dead, he felt bad which was a rare occurrence. Draco hardly felt guilt but he had been feeling a lot of it lately. Draco still wasn't sure what he should do when Hermione's voice broke the silence.

"Are you okay?" she asked hesitantly.

"Yeah," Malfoy replied.

"You sure? You look upset," Hermione pushed.

"I'm fine," he said angrily. He didn't realize the impact his anger would have on Hermione till after she left the room. He sighed and knew that now would be the time to apologize. It seemed as if he had been doing a lot of that lately as well. He climbed the stairs and knocked on her door and when he didn't get a response, he walked in.

"Get out. I'm busy," Hermione said coldly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to get angry, I just have a lot on my mind," he said quickly.

"Okay," Hermione mumbled.

"So…? Am I forgiven?" he asked, confused.

"Yeah," she smiled. After a minute or so, Draco spoke.

"Do you think I should keep the twins and take care of them? I'm only asking you because…well…you're the only one here," he said.

"That's a nice way of saying you need my help," Hermione replied sarcastically. "And yes, I think you should care for them as if they were your own kids um…I mean…care for them as you would for your brother or sister."

"So when do you want to go visit Dark Woods Town?" Draco asked.

"How about after we eat lunch? I'm starving!" Hermione said.

"Are you serious? Wow, you eat a lot! You had a huge breakfast and you're still starving!" Draco said in disbelief.

'_Great, now he thinks I'm fat,_' Hermione frowned, hurt by what Draco had said.

"I may not be as skinny as your girlfriends but I'm not that fat!" she yelled and left the room.

"Wait, no! Her-Granger! I didn't mean it that way!" Draco screamed while chasing her into the kitchen, not wanting to get into another fight. "You're not fat!" And he wasn't lying. In fact, if you looked at Hermione, it would seem as if she hadn't eaten in days. "You're actually really skinny," he said.

"Whatever," she replied, still a little hurt. '_Wait, since when have I cared what Draco thought of me_?' she thought angrily.

"So, do I still have to read the book on Dark Woods Town?" Draco asked, praying the answer was no.

"Yep. It shouldn't take you too long. How about today we go and explore more and gather all the information we can. Then we'll come home, take the information we find, combine it with the information in the book and we should be able to come with something. Well, hopefully we're able to come up with something," Hermione explained.

"Yeah," he replied before going back to his sandwich. He missed having house elves. Hermione had taught him how to make simple foods but he still wanted his house elf.

"What do you think about getting some house elves?" Draco asked hopefully.

"NO!" Hermione glared. "We will NOT have house elves. Those creatures are treated horribly by rich, snobby owners like you and they don't even get paid!"

"I'm not a rich, snobby guy!" Draco protested.

"Right," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Fine, can we have one?"

"No."

"Please."

"No, Malfoy. Now stop bothering me and let me eat in peace."

"You wouldn't have to cook anymore."

"How many times must I say no before you get the point?"

"I promise to be on my best behavior. I hate having to clean!"

"You cleaned once! ONCE!"

"So? I still hated it," Draco pouted.

"Pouting isn't going to get you anywhere," she replied.

"Do you know how much easier it would be if we had house elves?" Draco muttered.

"Will you stop? We are not getting house elves!" Hermione said angrily. Before their argument could progress to using wands, Ginny and Blaise apparated into the room.

"Ginny! It's so good to see you," Hermione said happily.

"Draco," Zabini said.

"Blaise," was his reply before he went back to eating.

"How rude!" Hermione said, glaring at the blond's head. "Anyway, what do I owe this lovely visit to?"

"Well, Blaise actually wanted to talk to Draco and so I tagged along. He just got back from working with Ron last night though Ron is still out there and I have no idea where. You'd think you're fiancé would tell you where he was going," Ginny said, sounding a bit angry at the last part.

"We've been over this a million times already!" Blaise said exasperated. "Draco, hurry up. Man, you eat so slow!"

"Do not," he protested with a mouth full of food.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," Hermione warned and to everyone's surprise, he listened.

"I came to talk to you about my father," Blaise whispered.

"Why don't you two go do some girly thing somewhere else, like paint each others fingers or whatever it is you girls do in your free time," Draco said quickly.

"No. I heard what you said Blaise, I'm not deaf. I'm not moving," Hermione said.

"Yes you are," Draco replied.

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"Yes."

"No."

"STOP!" Blaise screamed. "You two are so annoying with your arguments! You sound like a married couple! Now why don't you just go and do what Draco said?"

"No. I want to listen," Hermione said stubbornly.

"Fine, Draco and I will move," Blaise said getting up.

"And I'll follow," Hermione said determinedly.

"Granger, you have ten seconds to leave," Draco warned. "1..."

"Don't tell me what to do!"

"2...3...4..."

"Listen to me Malfoy…"

"5..."

"I will not leave this room because…"

"6..."

"I have every right to hear about this!"

"7...," Draco said, tapping his foot impatiently.

"I'm part of this! Why can't I listen?" Hermione protested angrily.

"8...9...I'm warning you, Granger," Draco said with a smirk.

"I'm not moving."

"10!" Draco said as he quickly picked Hermione up without warning and walked quickly to her room with Ginny following closely, trying to get him to let go. As soon as both were in the room, he locked the room, put a spell on it so they wouldn't be able to listen or to apparate out of there and walked back into the living room where he was met by two other boys.

"You sure they can't listen?" Asked the new voice.

"Yeah, Potter," Draco replied.

"Dumbledore got home with the twins, explained some things to me and I'm supposed to tell these to you. I only have a hour before I have to go back," Harry said quickly.

"Then let's get started," Blaise said.

"You do understand you can't tell Hermione right?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, she'll probably go and find Zabini and we all know how smart she is but we also know how angry she can get. In fact, both of you have a pretty bad temper," Blaise said wandering off topic.

"Focus!" Draco said, trying not to laugh.

"Zabini is looking for Blaise. He wants Blaise back and is trying to recruit any death eaters alive so they can reform and attempt to complete Voldemort's dream. Your father is STILL alive and it turns out this is not only Zabini's doing but it's your father's as well," Harry said.

"I thought they took care of Lucius," Draco asked confused.

"Dominic turned out to be a death eater and was discovered last night. It turns out that all the death eaters that he supposedly "captured" were the ones he hid. Lucius is among the top 12 that he was able to hide. Right now we have Ron, Fred, George, and Theo looking for the ones in hiding," Blaise explained.

"Also, Lucius is after you and Hermione," Harry said.

"What? I understand why he would be after me but why Hermione?" Draco asked.

"Because he knows how smart she is and he knows that with her brains and our courage, we have a chance of winning in what Dumbledore feels will be the second and final war. Right now there are so many confusing parts to this and Dumbledore now regrets having Hermione do this. He wasn't aware of what Lucius planned till last night and it would seem suspicious to Hermione if he just told her to stop this mission without giving her a reason why. You need to protect her," Harry said.

"I will," Draco replied.

"We know you will, but try not to tease or annoy her as much. She still thinks you hate her. If I were you, I would try and get on the good side of her, but we can save that conversation till another time," Blaise said quickly.

"It turns out that we don't have everything figured out like we thought," Harry said.

"Don't worry, we'll find them," Draco said. "But do I still need to fix Dark Woods Town?"

"Yeah, but first try and find Zabini and Lucius," Harry replied.

"Alright," Draco said.

"There's still more to this but I need to get back. I'll try and send you a letter with someone soon and Blaise will drop by in a few days to explain the rest," Harry said. "Bye."

"This is so confusing," Draco muttered.

"I know," Zabini replied.

* * *

**Disclaimer- I own nothing but the plot.**

**So here's chapter 11! How is it? Good? Bad? Amazing? REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW!**

**_THANKS TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE TAKEN THE TIME TO READ AND REVIEW MY FANFICTION._ It means a lot to me. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!**

**Also, thanks to my new editor Aileen (sp?) also known as CATSfanatic. Thanks to her, my stupid errors have been fixed -claps-**

**_REMEMBER TO REVIEW! I love hearing what you have to say._**

**- Tragictealeaves -**


	12. Authors Note

**Dear Readers,**

I'm sorry I haven't updated in forever and I know you guys expect a new chapter soon. Some of you probably gave up on waiting but I hope that's not true. Between track, activities, stage crew, babysitting, tutoring little kids, and classes, I barely have time to breathe. Finals are just around the corner and I'm extremely busy right now. After my finals are over, I have a three day weekend before the 2nd semester and I'm hoping to get a chapter up then. I apologize for just leaving this story in the middle but I will eventually finish it. It might take a while but I don't intend to just abandon it. This goes the same for my other fan fictions as well.

**I hope you guys don't give up on waiting and once again, sorry for the looooong wait.**

**Sincerely,**

**TragicTealeaves**


	13. Too Many Arguments

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
-------------------------------------------------------  
Chapter 12  
Too Many Arguments**

"Can you believe them? I hate Malfoy!" Hermione shouted.

"Calm down. He must have a good reason why he didn't let you listen," Ginny said.

"Ugh! I wish Malfoy could just…I don't know. I guess Malfoy and I haven't been getting along so well," Hermione sighed and although she might not know, it was obvious she was upset over it.

"You two never do. Why are you so upset over it?" Ginny asked.

"Am not. I…just think we should be civil and he should…I don't know," Hermione said, not sure exactly what she was trying to say. "I just wish he would stop thinking of me as a mudblood." And soon realized her mistake.

"You like him."

"WHAT?" Hermione yelled, shocked.

"You heard me. You like him, and I think he likes you too," Ginny said.

"Very funny," Hermione glared. '_I wish,_' she thought.

"Seriously! You two are always arguing. I always thought you two would make a cute couple anyways. You two have this love/hate thing going on," Ginny said.

"No," Hermione said.

"Really? Then why are you so affected by him calling you mudblood and insulting you?" Ginny asked. Hermione glared at her and was about to respond when Draco and Blaise walked in.

"Let's go Gin," Blaise said.

"Bye Hermione, and remember what I said," Ginny smiled and left.

"What was that all about?" Draco asked.

"Nothing," Hermione said angrily. "Go away."

"You can't be mad at me because I didn't let you listen," Draco said.

"Well, if I were to have a conversation in this house and you wanted to listen, I wouldn't FORCE you to leave," Hermione stated.

"That's because you wouldn't be able to. Anyway, you would most likely use a spell to make me deaf and blind or something. Do you seriously expect me to believe that if you and Ginny were having a conversation about something personal, you would let me listen?" Draco asked. '_He has a point_,' Hermione thought. Hermione thought about the conversation she just had with Ginny and realized that maybe she shouldn't have insisted on staying. She wouldn't want Draco to listen to the conversation she had.

"WAIT! Since when have you and Harry become friends?" Hermione demanded.

"We're not friends. He just had something important to tell me," Draco defended.

"Liar!" Hermione glared.

"Seriously," he said.

"Why am I not allowed in this "secret" you guys share?" she demanded.

"Cause we don't want to share it with you," Draco smirked and then realized how stupid he is.

"Don't smirk at me! You know what? Go and have your little secrets with them. I mean, Harry IS my best friend. Why should I know what's going on in his life? His enemy probably knows more than me!" Hermione said and walked out.

"Great! Can't I go one day without pissing her off?" Draco muttered as he ran after her.

"Look, I'll tell you when everything's figured out," Draco said.

"Why not now? I can help figure things out!" Hermione said.

"BECAUSE I CAN'T!" Draco shouted. Hermione glared and ran to her room, not forgetting to slam the door. This time, Draco didn't go after her.

"Why do I always find a way to mess things up?" Draco muttered. He turned on the TV, hoping it would get his mind off of things for a while. '_Maybe I should ask her out to dinner'_, Draco thought randomly. With that thought in mind, he went upstairs to Hermione's room.

"Wanna go out for dinner later?" he asked.

"WHAT?" Hermione yelled.

"I said 'wanna go out for dinner'. Why are you yelling?" Draco said calmly. '_Why am I asking her?_' he thought.

"Because I'm a mudblood. Are you sure you want to be seen in public with me?" she retorted.

"Look, I'm sorry about that. Old habits die hard. At least I'm TRYING to be nice," he said.

"Fine. Get out," she said.

Draco spent the rest of the day downstairs reading and watching TV and Hermione spent the day in her room thinking about the conversation she had with Ginny. Even though deep down she knew she liked him, she wasn't ready to admit it yet. Around six o'clock, Draco went upstairs and asked Hermione to get ready.

"Five minutes. Hurry. I'm hungry!" Draco said.

Fifteen minutes later, Draco could be found banging on Hermione's door and screaming, "I thought I said five minutes! Come on, I'm starving!" While he was too busy being angry, Hermione opened the door which caused the leaning Draco to fall on her.

"If I have a bruise, I'm suing," Hermione muttered. Draco couldn't help but smile. Of course, Hermione didn't notice. Then Draco did something that surprised Hermione and himself. He actually helped her up. "And I get to drive this time!"

"…No," Draco said.

"And why not?" Hermione said.

"Cause I want to drive," Draco said.

"If I don't drive, I don't come," Hermione said.

"You're coming and you know it so save us both time and let's go," Draco said.

"Why are you always so difficult? And just because you've always gotten what you want before doesn't mean you'll get what you want now," Hermione said. She was about to started again when Draco silenced her with a spell.

"You really need to stop talking so much. You never shut up!" Draco said. "It's a good thing you're under the spell. I really don't want to know what you just said." '_Wow, could she be any angrier!_' he thought, almost afraid to take the spell off. '_I guess I'll leave it on till we get to the restaurant. A silent car ride would be nice_'. Half way to the place, he got bored and undid the spell.

"If you EVER do that again, you'll regret it!" Hermione yelled. Then she spent rest of the car ride yelling at him, threatening him and repeating the words "I hate you".

"I hate you!" she said as you parked the car.

"I love you too," Draco muttered.

"What did you just say?!" Hermione yelled.

"Nothing. Can't you stop screaming? You yelled at me for at least ten minutes. All that just cause of a stupid silencing spell!" Draco said. He had a huge migraine and was starving. All he wanted was a peaceful dinner.

Surprisingly, dinner was okay. Hermione didn't yell, Draco was actually polite and they both enjoyed themselves. '_Well, at least she doesn't hate me anymore,_' Draco thought.

"Why can't you be this nice all the time?" Hermione asked.

"Am I a nice person?" Draco asked.

"No…"

"Then…?"

"You could be…if you wanted to be".

"Then I guess I don't want to be."

"Why?"

"I'm nice when I want to be."

"So you're nice right now cause you want to be but a few minutes later you could insult me and not have it affect you?"

"Exactly! Wait…NO! No, no, no, no!! I don't mean it like that. It's just, I can be nice and I can be mean. But I do care."

"Sure."

"Really, I do."

"You don't have to lie."

"I'm not lying!"

"Well why are you only nice and civil when you want to be?"

"What?"

"Why can't you be nice all the time? Why can't you be caring all the time?"  
"Cause…"

"Because?"

"I don't know!"

"Well you should know!"

"Why?"

"Cause you should! And you should care most of the time and be nice too!"

"I can't believe we're arguing about this!"

"Neither can I but I want to know why!"

"Well I don't know why!"

"Fine. I don't want to talk to you until you decide whether you want to be a nice, caring person or a coldhearted and evil person!"

"What?? Why!?"

"Not talking to you." Hermione said as she got up and left to go to the car.

_Great! We can't even go through dinner without fighting. Potter and Zabini are gonna be pissed_, he thought.

In the car, Draco suddenly remembered about Dark Woods Town. "Um, weren't we supposed to go to Dark Woods Town today?"

"You're right! With all the fighting and arguing, I completely forgot! Dumbledore is going to be so disappointed in us!" Hermione said, getting worried. _'I have to do something about this. I cannot spend the rest of my life arguing with Malfoy! This is ridiculous. The sooner we get everything figured out, the sooner we can go our separate ways!'_ she thought. After a few minutes of silence, Hermione said something which shocked her and Malfoy. "Malfoy, I propose a truce."

"What?"

"You heard me."

"Seriously?"

"It's the only way we're going to actually get things done. We're always fighting and it's getting us no where!" Hermione said.

"Okay. So I guess I have to be all nice and sweet?" Draco asked.

"How about just civil for now? I don't even think you know what nice and sweet is," Hermione smirked.

"Haha, very funny," Draco said. '_I can be nice! And sweet_!' he thought angrily.

"How are we going to find Zabini?" Hermione asked, changing the topic.

"I think I have an idea…"

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to tell me?" Hermione asked. '_I swear, this boy needs help!_'

"Of course I'm not going to!" Draco smirked. "I just need to confirm a few things and then I will."

"But-"

"We're home," Draco announced.

That night after Draco made sure Hermione was asleep, he took out his quill and a piece of parchment. He knew if Hermione read the letter he was about to send, there would be chaos. '_She_ _always has to know everything_,' Draco thought. '_One of the things I love about her..WAIT. Love? Hell no. I meant, hate_.' Shaking his head, he decided to stop thinking. After all, how can he fall for a mudblood? And so with that last thought, Draco began his letter.

**_Dear Professor Dumbledore,_**

_**I was thinking today and wondering if I could search for Zabini by myself. Or maybe with the help of Potter. I don't know whether I should tell Hermione or not. Zabini responds to my father. I look exactly like Lucius. It would be dangerous but I think I can manage to fool Zabini into thinking I was Lucius. I could find out all sorts of things from him. Before we do that, we have to first find Lucius. If we do go ahead with his plan, what do I do with Hermione? I'll be waiting for your reply.**_

_**Sincerely,**_

_**Draco Malfoy**_

"Perfect", he muttered. That night was another one of his many restless nights. Needless to say, Draco Malfoy managed to annoy Hermione with his temper, again early in the morning.

"Malfoy, up! Up, up, up!" Hermione poked each time she said up.

"Go away!" muttered an annoyed Draco.

"Nope. We have to start thinking of a plan. Imagine how upset Dumbledore will be once he discovers we've been slacking! We haven't done anything besides spend long days arguing. Now, I don't know about you but I'm not ready to disappoint Dumbledore! Think of Harry and Ron, out there working hard. All the members of the order are out working and what are we doing? Slacking! That's what! We should ashamed, not sleeping. Up you stupid git!" Hermione ranted. When Draco didn't even budge, a very stressed Hermione started poking again.

"STOP!" Draco screamed grabbing her finger and getting ready to break it. "Stop poking me! I'm up, happy? Stupid witch," he muttered. When he looked up, he came face to face with a teary Hermione. '_Shit_', he thought. Before he could think of something to say she left.

Breakfast went by smoothly this morning. As Hermione was doing the dishes, Draco asked, "Why are you so stressed?"

"Because…"

"Because….why?"

"Well, we've been procrastinating and it really isn't good," Hermione sighed.

"Well, don't get depressed," Draco smirked.

"Don't smirk you insufferable git!" Hermione glared.

"What did I do now?" he asked.

"How can you not be stressed or worried? Is it because you know something I don't? I don't like being kept in the dark. You, Harry and Blaise are keeping secrets. I want to know what they are. Harry's my best friend and he doesn't even tell me anything. Do you know how unfair it is?" Hermione said, all in one breath.

Rubbing his head, Draco thought for a moment before replying, "Look, don't worry about it okay? Nothing is wrong with Potter. You want to know why we didn't tell you? Because of your reaction. You're stressed as it and you worry too much. For once, let others take care of things and relax!"

"No. I can't just sit back and relax while my two best friends out there fighting to clear up this mess," Hermione said.

"Okay, so how about we actually go to Dark Woods today?" Draco asked.

"Wouldn't it be wiser to think of a plan first?"

"Let's just go. I need to check out a couple of things. Be ready in ten minutes and when I say ten, I really do mean ten minutes. Not twenty, not thirty. Ten, got it?" Draco asked.

The car ride was silent. Both were preoccupied with their own thoughts. All Hermione could think of was the conversation she had with Ginny earlier. '_Even if I do like him, he'll NEVER like me. He'll probably end up marrying Pansy or some other Slytherin slut. And if he were to venture outside Slytherins and into Gryffindor, he would go for someone pretty and skinny like Lavender. Or even Ginny. I still don't understand why Malfoy hates me so much. What have I done? I'm likable, aren't I_?' Hermione thought. '_I really need to stop thinking about him_.' Needless to say, Hermione Granger wasn't very confident in her looks. She may not be best looking ever but she was a very beautiful witch. Add her intelligence to her beauty and she becomes many guys 'dream girl'.

'I hate this silence. Should I even attempt to talk to Granger. She'd probably get mad. I suppose she isn't that bad. She's a great cook though. And she's capable of thinking for herself unlike Pansy. So maybe I like her a little, or a lot. I was doing just fine until I got stuck in this mess. How an I suppose to drag Hermione into some of the most dangerous plans?' he asked himself. After arriving at Dark Woods, Draco got out but Hermione sat there.

"You coming?"

"Yeah, it's just…"

"What?" he asked.

"That guy was creepy," Hermione stated.

"What guy?"

"The guy that was there last time!"

Draco laughed. He actually laughed.

"And may I ask what's so funny?" Hermione glared.

"Yes, you may," he smirked. "Look, the guy is probably gone. Where's that Gryffindor courage you and your housemates often brag about? Come on, nothing is going to happen."

"I am not scared," Hermione replied getting out of the car. "I was just…I'm not scared. I've been through plenty of things more dangerous than this. Of course, I was with people who wouldn't hand me over to save themselves as you might. I was people who cared."

"Where did that come from? Stop assuming things," Draco frowned. He turned around, not letting Hermione see that she had truly hurt him.

* * *

**Disclaimer- I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Well that was chapter 12! Once again, sorry about the delay. Don't forget to tell me what you think of this chapter.**

**_REVIEW!_ **

**Thanks to those who've already reviewed and haven't forgotten my story !**

**- TragicTealeaves -**


	14. Realization

**My Next Door Neighbor  
****By TragicTealeaves  
****--------------------------------------------------------------  
****Chapter 13  
Realization**

"I really don't like this place," Hermione muttered. She looked around in fear and disgust.

"Relax, no one's going to jump out and kill you! In fact, there's no one around," Draco comforted.

"But…remember last time? That man, unhealthy complexion, incredibly bony, creepy…"

"That was then, this is now. Now move!" Draco said, pushing her gently towards the entrance.

Gathering the incredibly small amount of courage Hermione had left, she walked into Dark Woods. However, this time it seemed much more different than last. The place had gotten darker if possible. There were trees the size of skyscrapers. Just looking up hurt Hermione's neck. The dirty pathway split into three directions now. One lead to what could be called a neighborhood with tall, black single houses that were positioned in a way that they almost touched and seemed like a wall. Another path lead toward…nothing? You could look straight ahead and see absolutely nothing! Just a small path going straight into what seemed like nowhere. The third path lead toward a gray and white building. The building seemed like a palace, meant for kings. In this case, meant for an evil witch or wizard.

"I say we go down the first one," Draco suggested.

"Huh?" Hermione asked.

"Were you paying attention?"

"Obviously not."

"First path?"

"Second path?"

"Second path leads to no where!"

"First path leads to huge, scary houses," Hermione responded.

"We'll make more progress going down the first one," Draco pointed out.

"We'll probably be safer going down the second one," Hermione replied.

"Granger…"

"Yes Malfoy?"

"Do you have any idea how frustrating you are! Can't you just agree with me ONCE?" Draco yelled.

"Sorry," Hermione said looking down. She knew she was being difficult and now felt bad.

"It's…okay…umm…how about we go down the third one?" Draco asked uncomfortably. He wasn't used to Hermione apologizing and even though he had a valid point.

"Sounds good," Hermione replied. Both stood there for a minute, not moving."Well, aren't you going to go first?"

"Ladies first," Draco smirked.

"…"

"Go on. Don't be shy," Draco grinned, pushing Hermione a little.

"Fine, be a coward," Hermione suddenly said, and she started walking towards the building.

Malfoy ran to catch up to her. "Did you just call me a coward?"

"Yep."

"You were the one afraid to even enter this place!"

"And you're the one who was afraid to walk down this stupid path. You know what? This building looks friendlier up close!" Hermione said, smiling slightly. During the walk down, she lost some of her fear.

"Buildings can't look friendly Granger," Draco said.

"Should we knock…or just enter?" Hermione asked.

"I say we just walk in."

"But that would be a little rude."

"Granger, there's probably a dark wizard in there. Who cares if we're rude or not?"

"True."

"Then lets go!"

"But dark wizard or not, I'm pretty sure that the person will be aggravated if we just walk in…"

"You are impossible Granger, IMPOSSIBLE. Can't we just go in?"

"…Fine."

"You have your wand right?"

"Of course, who would forget their wand. Never mind, don't answer that Malfoy." Draco only smirked in response. Draco opened the door a tiny bit, Hermione close behind. He looked inside and was horrified with what he saw. He shut the door immediately and turned around.

"What? What did you see?" Hermione asked, panicking slightly.

"Nothing. Want to check out the other paths?"

"Move, I want to see," Hermione said stubbornly.

"Granger, let's go," He said but before he could pull Hermione away, she opened the door.

"Malfoy…I…look…it's…" Hermione was stunned, shocked, revolted, disgusted with what she saw. "Who could do this? It can't be a wizard can it? Malfoy, it can't."

"Yes it can," Draco said softly.

"No."

"Granger, let's go."

"No!" Hermione said as she pulled away from Draco and entered the building. It was dark and smelled as if something had died. Then she looked around and began to cry, slowly at first. Whispering "lumos", she continued to walk in. Every where she turned, she saw another body. Another cut up, bloodied body. Toddlers and infants hanging from the ceiling and fans. One child was missing a leg, the dried stump visible under the black piece of cloth. One was missing arms. Along with bodies, body parts could also be found. Some of the eyelids were stitched upwards, giving the impression that the person was awake. And this was only one of the hundred rooms. God only knew what could be in the other rooms.

"Granger, can we go now?"

"Draco...look…Malfoy...are you looking?"

"…Yes."

"The bodies. Their only little kids!" Hermione cried. She starting crying hysterically and began to hiccup. She collapsed and sat there, weeping harder and harder. Her chest began to tighten and she could barely breathe anymore. Meanwhile, Draco stood there, not sure what to do. This was gruesome and he hoped Hermione wouldn't have seen it. However, he wanted to get back to Harry and Blaise to let them know. He also couldn't stand Hermione's crying any longer. The place was creeping him out.

"Alright Granger, we're going now. Come on, up!" Malfoy said. "Granger, please get up? Oh fine!" He picked Hermione up and started towards the door. He continued to carry her as he walked back up the path. He looked at Hermione and saw her now crying silently. He smiled slightly when he felt Hermione move closer to his body. He decided Hermione had seen enough today. However, he planned to definitely come back later with Blaise or someone to check the place out. Once he arrived at the car, he tried to put Hermione down but she had a firm grip.

"Who would do that?" she whispered.

"A death eater," Draco replied. "Come on, let go. Let's go home." Hermione nodded in response.

"No! Wait!" Hermione said as Draco started the car.

"What?"

"We have to go in the houses."

"You're kidding, right?"

"No. We have to," Hermione said while getting out of the car.

"Granger, there's no way I'm going in those houses," Malfoy stated.

"You can wait here then."

Draco unwillingly followed Hermione down the first path and to the first house. He wanted, no…he needed to get back home. He knew a little more about the bodies than Hermione and he needed to tell Dumbledore. He also couldn't leave Hermione alone here.

"It's an illusion!" Hermione announced proudly.

"What?" Draco asked.

"An illusion. something that deceives by producing…"

"I know what an illusion is. I meant, what brought you to that conclusion!" Draco snapped

"Well, it's hard to believe this place could really be this empty. There has to be someone living here. And there are people living here. Look," Hermione said as she pointed to several bodies. Actually, she pointed to several skeletons who were sitting on the couch.

"Granger, that's not a living body," Malfoy stated.

"I know. Watch," Hermione said as she whispered a spell which sounded familiar to Draco. After a few seconds, the room changed. It was filled with color. The skeletons had turned into bodies of a woman and a man and two little kids. Instead of the old, dusty place filled with spiders and cobwebs, there was a room that looked as if someone had just…froze everyone.

"I think they're asleep," Hermione said.

"No, no they're not asleep! Why didn't I see this before? It makes much more sense now!" Draco said, panicked after glancing over at the family.

"What makes sense?"

"Granger, let's go. Now!"

"No, I want to know what makes sense," Hermione stated stubbornly.

Draco only growled angrily in response. He grabbed her arm and dragged her back to the car. He was sure that his hands would leave a bruise but at the moment, the only thing that mattered was getting her out of there. "How could I have not remembered! I should've told Dumbledore immediately" Draco muttered angrily. He shoved Hermione in the car, put on the seat belt, got into the car, and drove away at a dangerous speed.

"Slow down!" Hermione demanded. All she got in response was an angry glare.

"Are you going to tell me what makes sense?" Hermione asked

"We have to get home first. No, we can't go home. We have to go to the headquarters," Draco whispered.

"And you're whispering because?"

"Because they can hear and they're following," Draco said.

"They….?"

"Keep you voice down!" Draco hissed, driving even faster, if that was possible.

* * *

**Disclaimer- I own nothing but the plot.**

**Hi. School's over. This means I actually have time to write:-) So this was chapter 13. Not like I planned it to be. :-/ I'll be updating sooner. Let me know what you thought of this chapter. Thanks.**

**Review please!**

**- TragicTealeaves -**


	15. Revelations

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
-----------------------------------------------  
Chapter 14  
Revelations**

"They who!?" Hermione asked impatiently. Draco muttered something incoherent and continued driving at the same manic speed. "Malfoy, are you going to answer me?"

"Vampires," was Draco's simple reply.

"Vampires? That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Draco, vampires are a MYTH. They're just not real," Hermione laughed.

"Granger, shut up. What's following us is a vampire. Now, stop talking."

"No. Vampires are not real," Hermione insisted.

"Did you ever think magic was real before you got your letter?" Draco retorted, glancing over at her.

"Well, I mean, it was in fairytales…and…okay. I see your point. How come I've never read anything about them or heard of them?" Hermione questioned, upset with herself that there was something Draco knew but she didn't.

"Because wizards don't have books lying around on vampires. Vampires are very rare and hard to train or even talk to. No wizard has ever escaped a vampire and lived to tell the tale. I'm sure they're not after us, not now anyways. They just want us away from Dark Woods. Why, I don't know," Draco muttered.

"If you knew about them, why didn't you bother telling me?" Hermione questioned angrily.

"Potter said not to. He said you'd go after them," Draco calmly replied as he began to slow.

"Why are we slowing down?"

"We're far away enough that they've left us alone," Draco said. He parked in the driveway ten minutes later. "We're home. I'll tell you more when we get inside," Draco said in response to the look he received from Hermione. As soon as they were in the house, Hermione bombarded Draco with questions and shouted accusations at him. Draco just sighed. '_This is going to be a very long night_' he thought as he took a seat next to Hermione.

"How could you NOT tell me? Who cares what Harry said? I should be aware of vampires and the possible danger they posses. And I want to know more about them. Where'd you hear about them? I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE YOU LISTENED TO HARRY! Since when do you two even talk to each other!? Malfoy, are you listening?" Hermione yelled.

"Stop…screaming…screeching…whatever noise you're making. I'm right next to you, incase you didn't notice," Draco began. Hermione only glared in response. "Potter told me not to tell you because he thought that you would go looking for them. At first, I thought he was wrong and I planned on telling you. Then I realized that Potter was right. Sometimes you make stupid decisions because of your anger. So I figured I'd keep you safe from them, which is my job here anyway, and not let you know. Dumbledore told me to keep it a secret from you too."

"DUMBLEDORE KNEW?"

"Granger! Enough with the yelling. Yes he did."

"Who else?"

"Not many people. Blaise, Weasley, the Order…Now let me continue and please don't interrupt."

"Fine."

"Anyway, I've been keeping in contact with Dumbledore. You're going to kill me for this but I have met up with him a few times to discuss certain issues. However, I was ORDERED not to bring you. But now that I'm telling you some things, I might as well tell you the whole story. My father, as you know, obviously isn't dead. He attempted to recruit all the death-eaters. A spy was caught in the Order. He has about 15 death-eaters with him at the moment. They needed something, someone to help them. My father knew about vampires. Not many magic folk did. That's how I know about vampires. Lucius decided to go seek help from the clan that lived in Alaska. The Glenn's are one of the oldest clans around. They're very powerful. The leader is Adonis Glenn. He was born in 1349 and recently celebrated his 658th birthday to which Lucius was invited. You see, he kept in contact with them since this was the only clan he knew of. He searched for vampires ever since he was told of them, at the age of 16. With Adonis, there is Adonia, his mate, Adam, Alexis, Celeste, Pierre, and their most recent addition, Jason. We're almost positive that Lucius has the Glenn clan on his side. However, vampires can be very unpredictable. They're known to stick to their own clan, defend themselves before anyone else. How Lucius has them on his side, I'll never know. Vampires can rebel at any time. I guess it depends on the vampire itself. They're very strong and fast with acute senses. Ironically, their only weakness and strength is blood."

"Once a vampire has decided to hunt its prey, its prey has no chance of survival. They can be cold, cruel creatures. Dumbledore told me to be careful of them. Watch out and stay out of their way. Potter also knows but you weren't supposed to find out. Lucius is determined to become the dark lord. As of right now, he has 15 supporters and a vampire family. If we isolate him, we have a chance of ending this. Dark Woods town is beyond messed up at this point. He's done so much that it's hard to tell what's real and what's not. You saw those bodies. They might be real, or you might be right, they could be an illusion. But Lucius is very creative with spells, always looking for new ways to cover his tracks or confuse a witch or wizard. I've been told to keep you looking for Dark Woods and figure out how to fix it, but my job is to keep track of the vampires. That's what I've been doing every night for the past week. Dumbledore thought that if you were too occupied with Dark Woods, you wouldn't become suspicious of our plans to keep you out of this," Draco took a break, letting all of this sink in. He expected questions, which had not been voiced yet. He sat there patiently.

"But, vampires can't come out during the day can they?" Hermione asked.

Draco laughed, "Yeah, they can. Those myths you were taught aren't exactly true. They don't burn in the sun and they aren't repelled by the smell of garlic as some believe. Vampires are very powerful."

"Why?"

"Huh?"

"Why weren't you allowed to tell me any of this?" Hermione asked.

Draco knew she was going to ask this one. "Granger, Lucius is after one other thing as well. You. Once he has you, he has Potter and the Order at his feet, begging to let you go. Not only does he have Potter and the Order at his feet, he has your brains. As much as I hate admitting this, you're the brightest witch of the century. Muggleborn or not, Lucius will take advantage of your knowledge," he replied.

"Why wasn't I aware of these meetings, visits with Dumbledore or Harry? I'm sure I would've noticed you leaving the house," Hermione asked. Draco only smiled.

"Remember this?" he asked as he pulled out the black string tied around his neck from under his shirt. In his hand was a time turner, the same device Hermione had used in her third year to take extra classes.

"I have to admit, that was a smart idea!" Hermione was a little shocked.

"So can you tell me where Harry, Ron, and Blaise are?"

"Harry is out with Ron and Blaise, searching for another vampire clan. They're not so easy to find when they don't want to be found. I guess they must've become aware of the fact that they are being searched," Draco replied. This saddened Hermione. '_How can I just sit here while they're out there, risking their lives for everyone! Even Malfoy…_' Hermione thought. She felt useless, clueless, and she did not like this feeling at all.

"I know you're probably scared and freaked out, so I guess I'm sorry," Draco whispered.

"Am I supposed to be scared?" Hermione asked. Oddly, she was not at all afraid of these creatures called vampires. In fact, she felt nothing at all except frustrated and angry with herself.

"Well, a normal person would be," Draco said, looking at her.

"I guess I'm not normal," Hermione said, looking down. "Malfoy, you should have told me! All this time, I've done nothing but argued with you endlessly when I could be helping Harry, Ron, and Blaise! When I could have also been helping you! Do you know how USELESS I feel now?" Hermione resisted the urge to shout at him.

"Granger, we were told to PROTECT you. We can't have you running around looking for trouble. Lucius is looking for you, right now. You don't realize the danger. You're brilliant and you know it. With your brains and Lucius's dark magic, can you imagine what the wizarding world would be like? Whether you wanted to help Lucius or not, he would somehow force you to once he got his hands on you."

"This is too weird," Hermione whispered.

"I know."

"What about Mark and Mike?" Hermione asked.

"Honestly, I have no idea how Lucius got involved with Dora who's a muggleborn. Dumbledore decided that right now, it's best if we not get too involved in that. We have other bigger issues to worry about. Mrs. Weasley is taking care of them. They also want to see you and me."

"I guess."

"You okay?"

"Yeah, thanks. Um, I think I'm going to go to bed. Goodnight Malfoy," Hermione said as she got up.

Draco grabbed her wrist, pulling her back down. "Stay. I know that you're going to go in your room and feel 'useless' and upset. Honestly, I don't trust you enough right now," Draco said.

"What?"

"Knowing you, you would blame yourself. Then you would probably do something stupid, like attempt to find vampires or look for Lucius himself," Draco mused.

"You search for them at night," Hermione accused, blushing a little from embarrassment. In her mind, she was blaming herself, and she was feeling useless. She also had planned on going on a little hunt that night.

"Not tonight Granger," Draco countered, smiling.

"But I think I'll go up to my room and rest. Don't worry, I won't go anywhere," Hermione smiled, slowly heading for the stairs. '_I am not spending the night asleep. Tonight, I plan on doing something that can somehow help Draco_', Hermione thought. She went into her room and locked her door with every spell she knew. Then she sat at her desk and began to plan.

"Malfoy said that vampires are hard to find, but he also said Lucius has them on his side. And Lucius has to be here, somewhere close. That night, at the park, before Draco saved me. I saw him. Last night, when we went out to dinner, I'm pretty sure I saw Lucius in the crowd. I should've told Malfoy then! Oh god. Well, where do I start?" Hermione muttered to herself furiously. Suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders roughly, scaring Hermione to death.

"You saw Lucius but didn't bother to tell me?" Draco hissed angrily. He spun her around so that his face was a couple of inches away from hers. "Granger, I asked a question."

"I…you can't yell at me! Or get mad at me! There were so many things you didn't tell me," Hermione replied.

"That was different. That was to SAVE you. Why the hell didn't you tell me? What is wrong with you?" Draco glared.

"Well, I was angry with you and I don't know," Hermione said looking down. Now that she thought about it, she honestly had no idea why she didn't mention it.

"You're such a liar too," Draco said, after calming himself down a little, well, after attempting to calm himself down.

"What?"

"You tell me downstairs that you're not going anywhere tonight, you're coming up to your room to 'rest'. Then you sit here and secretly plot to go look for vampires and Lucius," Draco said, glaring again. "Not to mention, you put way too many locking charms on your door."

"How'd you get in?" Hermione asked, angry.

"Granger, you forgot who my father was, well, is. You're brilliant, not going to lie about that, but I know more dark magic than you'll ever know," Draco snickered.

"I hate you," Hermione mumbled.

"Yeah, I love you too," Draco smirked. He only got a glare in response which made him laugh.

"Well, you can go to your room now. I'm obviously not going anywhere," Hermione said.

"Nice try. I'm staying here for the night," Draco said, making himself comfortable on Hermione's bed.

"Nope. Not on my bed. Out."

"Nah, I'm comfy right here."

"Malfoy."

"Granger?"

"DRACO MALFOY, LEAVE!" Hermione yelled.

"Hermione Granger, NO," Draco replied, grinning. '_This is fun_,' he thought before he was hit in the face with a very thick book. '_Leave it to Granger to own abnormally thick and heavy books_,' he thought angrily.

"Please?"

"Nope. I'm spending the night here. Like I said earlier, I don't trust you. Not tonight anyway. And if you manage to escape under my watch, Potter and Weasley will kill me. So you have two options. Either get in bed with me and sleep, and I won't 'do anything' so stop glaring, or sleep on that chair. Pick one," Draco smirked, pleased with himself. Hermione got into bed while muttering many profanities and words filled with hatred towards him.

"You don't have to be so mean Granger," Draco sniffed, unconsciously pouting which caused Hermione to smile a bit.

"Scoot over Malfoy," Hermione said, shoving him so that he was on the very edge of the bed. Now, Hermione Granger was not used to sharing a bed. She tended to roll around from one end to the other end of the bed.

"Granger, I can't move over any more. Why don't you just stop moving?" he asked, annoyed.

"Goodnight Malfoy."

"Goodnight Granger."

Ten minutes later…

"Granger, move over a bit."

"No. Go away."

"Fine." Draco shoved Hermione over.

Another five minutes later….

"Granger, if you kick me with your feet one more time…"

"What are you going to do about it Malfoy?" He whispered a spell that Hermione didn't recognize. Suddenly, she felt her feet being tied together and no matter what spell she tried, she could remove the binding.

"Malfoy, untie my feet. NOW."

"Sweet dreams Granger. Now you definitely can't run," Draco said, laughing a little.

* * *

**Disclaimer- No, I don't own Harry Potter.**

**I finally updated. So how was this chapter? Review and let me know.**

**Thanks to my editor who caught all of my stupid mistakes.**

**_REVIEW PLEASE!_ :-)**

**- TragicTealeaves -**


	16. Decisions

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
-----------------------------------------  
Chapter 15  
Decisions**

The next morning Hermione Granger woke up wrapped in Draco's arms. Annoyed, she tried to move them but he had a very tight grip. Grudgingly, she admitted to herself that she liked being in Draco's arms but reminded herself that she and Draco were enemies and that's how it was supposed to be. She looked up at his face. He looks a little less evil, she thought, '_more angelic'_. Without his usual smirk or sneer, Malfoy looked almost friendly to Hermione. After laying still for another ten minutes, she decided to try and get up again. After an endless amount of poking and prodding, she conjured some cold water and poured it over his head.

"Granger!"

"You wouldn't wake up or let go!" Hermione defended herself from the glare she received.

"So you deciding pouring cold water on me would make me let go?" Draco asked as he tightened his grip.

"Malfoy, I can't breathe!" Hermione choked out.

Angrily, Draco let go and shoved Hermione lightly, not knowing that she was already so close to the edge of the bed. His little shove caused Hermione to roll off the bed, pulling the sheets down with her. Along with the sheets came a tangled Draco, landing heavily on top of her.

"If I die, I'm suing!" Hermione screamed, barely able to get a breath in with the heavy weight on her. Draco rolled off of her, muttering about grumpy witches.

"So what's on today's agenda?" Hermione asked brightly after a couple of minutes of laying there.

"You're going to go visit Mark and Mike."

"And you…?"

"I'm busy."

"Doing what?"

"Nothing."

"Right. More like searching for vampires. Or Lucius."

Draco sighed and paused before answering. He looked over and said one word, "vampires."

"I'm coming."

"No, you're visiting Mark and Mike. They've been begging Mrs. Weasley to see you," was his reply.

"Well, we'll stop by, visit for a few minutes and then begin our search."

"Granger…no."

"I'm not going to let you go out there searching for vampires alone!"

"I don't have a choice! Potter is off with Weasley and Blaise. I talked to Dumbledore. I'm going today," Draco said.

"Will I get a full report later tonight?" Hermione asked.

"Well," he hesitated before continuing. "I won't be back any time soon. We're going to have some of the aurors protecting you. I guess I could let you know when I get back," Draco said.

"I'm coming."

"We've already had this conversation! No you're not!"

"I want to. You can't go out there alone!" Hermione yelled, glaring at him.

"Look, I can protect myself…"

"And you're saying I can't!? I can protect myself better than any witch and even many wizards! Want to duel? Then I can show you how well I can protect myself!" Hermione said angrily. '_Stupid ferret, thinks he can go doing whatever he pleases. He'll get himself killed! Not that I care…oh who am I kidding. I care and if he's leaving, so am I. What am I going to do at home while my best friends and the guy I like are off risking their lives?_' she thought.

After a few moments, Draco said, "Dumbledore would never allow it."

"We'll see. Today we're going to go visit Mark and Mike. Then Dumbledore and see what he has to say about me joining you on this trip. I don't care whether you like the plan or not, you're following it, even if I have to force you to," Hermione glared as she got up. Well, she tried to get up, only to fall back down again. Confused, Hermione looked down and saw her feet were still tied. Draco tried very hard to stifle his laugh but failed miserably.

"Malfoy…"

"Yes, Granger?"

"My feet."

"Well, I could untie them…if…"

"Now or you will regret it," Hermione said in a deadly tone. '_No wonder Potter and Weasley never question her or go against her_!' he thought and he quickly undid the spell.

She grabbed a towel and walked into the bathroom and yelled, "You might want to write to Dumbledore to let him know of the change of plans."

"Stupid, stubborn, persistent, annoying, careless witch!" Draco shouted. He decided to write to Dumbledore and let him know what Hermione wanted. He was so sure after all that Hermione wouldn't be joining him. However, just in case Dumbledore decided to consider letting her go, he emphasized how much safer she'd be here than out there with him.

No matter how hard Draco tried to convince Hermione to stay home and no matter how much he begged, Hermione would not budge. She insisted on joining him on his trip. Draco couldn't understand how Hermione can NOT see the danger in this! He didn't understand how she didn't feel the fear he did. How could one, tiny witch be so stubborn? It didn't matter that Draco told her he would visit every few days and that he will definitely come home even if that part was not certain yet. Hermione ignored everything he said, and Draco finally ended up taking Hermione to the Weasleys to visit the twins and Dumbledore. He silently prayed Dumbledore would not listen to Hermione. He stopped in front of The Burrow and sighed. He looked over to find that Hermione was already out of the car and making her way into The Burrow.

"HERMIONE!" screamed Mark and Mike.

"Hi! How are you two doing?" Hermione asked giving them both a hug.

"Fine," they chorused. Before Hermione could say anything else, the twins disappeared. She looked behind her just in time to see the twins jump on Draco.

"Are you staying?" Mike asked.

"No, sorry. I have…some things to take care of. However, Hermione might be staying," he said smiling.

"YES!" Mark screamed, running over to Hermione.

"Don't listen to Draco, boys, I don't think I'll be staying," Hermione said angrily.

"Are you mad at us?" asked a teary eyed Mike.

"No, sweetie, why would I be mad?"

"Because you said you won't stay."

"I can't stay because I have something to do. But I'll be back and I'll visit," Hermione said smiling.

"Promise?"

"I promise. Now I have to go see Dumbledore so I'll be back before I leave."

"He's in the kitchen," Mike said, pointing to his right.

"No! The kitchen is that way!" Mark argued pointing to the left.

"No it isn't."

"Yes it is."

"Hermione, tell him it isn't."

"Draco, tell him it is!"

"The kitchen is that way," Hermione laughed, pointing straight ahead. Confused, both of them followed Hermione and Draco into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Ms. Granger and Mr. Malfoy," Dumbledore greeted. "Mrs. Weasley, could you please excuse us for a moment?"

"Of course," she said, smiling as she dragged the twins upstairs to shower. Screams of "I don't want to shower" or "can I do it later?" could be heard.

"Tell him I'm allowed to go," Hermione said angrily.

"She can't," Draco said.

"Go…where?"

"Wherever he's going. I want to be able to help!"

"Ms. Granger, do you know how dangerous it is?" Dumbledore asked.

"I know but I can't stay home while everyone is out there. I want to help," she argued stubbornly.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"No," he replied.

"Professor!" Hermione pleaded. "He told me everything last night and I don't think it was fair that I was kept in the dark. You should let me go."

"You told her?" Dumbledore asked with a faint smile.

"She…found out PART of it so I decided to spill. It was that or listen to her scream all night," Draco mumbled.

"Shut up. I want to go," Hermione insisted.

"It'd be safer if you were here," Dumbledore replied.

"I could be useful though! I know how to protect myself. Don't you think it's better to have TWO people go rather than one?" Hermione argued.

"I know you can protect yourself and I must agree with you. Two heads are better than one," Dumbledore sighed. Hermione could tell he was debating whether she should go or not and silently prayed he allowed to her go.

"You can…go…"

"YES!"

"BUT…"

"…but what?"

"You are to listen to Mr. Malfoy and do as he says. We cannot have Lucius find you," Dumbledore said sternly.

"Fine," Hermione agreed reluctantly. She wasn't looking forward to the new power Malfoy would have.

"Mr. Malfoy?"

"Fine."

"Good. You leave tomorrow and Mr. Malfoy will help you pack and fill you in on the details," Dumbledore told Hermione.

* * *

**Disclaimer- No, I don't own Harry Potter, kay?**

**Sorry it took so long to post and that its short but I'll try to write more. So how was this chapter?? Let me know :)**

**Thanks to my reviewers and editor!**

**_Review please!_**

**Also, _Nakita_- I'm not sure if I have advice that helps but if your writing a fanfiction, post it. Don't worry about whether people will read it or not.**

**- TragicTealeaves -**


	17. Preparations and Maybe Love

**My Next Door Neighbor  
By TragicTealeaves  
----------------------------------------------  
Chapter 16  
Preparations and Maybe Love**

"Granger, can't you stay home?!" Draco asked for the millionth time in the past twenty minutes. After saying their goodbyes to the twins who cried and cried and cried, Hermione and Draco finally got home.

"Draco, deal with it. I'm coming. You can't get rid of me," Hermione said, rolling her eyes.

"Did anyone ever tell you you're annoying? Because you are," Draco said, glaring at the witch in front of him. He was supposed to be helping Hermione pack. Instead, Draco was sitting on the edge of the bed watching Hermione go through her belongings and picking things she would like to bring. He had a few suggestions in mind but was too angry to bother suggesting them.

"Malfoy, shut up," Hermione mumbled while deciding what clothes to pack and what clothes to leave behind. She also contemplated how much of each item she should bring. '_What about food? I'll have to ask Draco when I'm done packing_,' Hermione thought, a little worried.

"Don't pack too much crap Hermione," Draco muttered sullenly. He looked up to a smiling Hermione. Draco had finally given in, and she was so excited to start tomorrow.

"Thanks so much! You won't regret this," Hermione said cheerfully.

"I hope not."

"Well, don't sit there! Be useful!"

"How?"  
"How about explaining to me what we're doing?"

"We're going a isolated area in Alaska. Supposedly, the vampires are taking a "vacation" there. Now, I know more about them then you do so obviously I'm going to do the talking and you're going to stand behind me and listen. We're staying in a cabin my father owns that Dumbledore secured. It's very close to the cabin the vampires are in. We'll be there for a while so you might want to unpack and repack," Draco smirked.

Hermione angrily threw a pillow at him and said, "You could've said that earlier!"

"I was mad at you."

"So?"

"Remember you used that same excuse when I asked why you didn't tell me you saw Lucius?"

"Shut up!"

"Nah, if I shut up, then you'd live your life peacefully and wouldn't be annoyed. Ever. We can't do that to you, that'd be mean!"

"No, what's mean is YOU. You and your lazy-ness, and your annoying-ness, and…and…just YOU in general is mean!"

"Nice explanation Hermione," Draco grinned. "Anyway, we're going to go and attempt to form some type of agreement. That just incase we need back up against these death-eaters, they would be there to help us. Most of them have already talked to Lucius and it's going to be hard to convince them. If they're really that devoted to Lucius, then we'll have to run. Right away. Then we would have to hunt werewolves instead."

"Oh okay. I can be persuasive at times," Hermione nodded.

"Hermione, were you deaf when I said I was going to do the talking?"

"Of course not! I'm just ignoring that part."

"Remember what Dumbledore said?"

"Can we decide this when we get to Alaska?"

"Maybe, are you going to listen to me?  
"Yeah if we can discuss this topic when we get there."

"Fine but my answer isn't going to change."

"We'll see," Hermione smiled sweetly to Draco, scaring him a little.

"I only brought some warm clothing!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Where's the rest?"

"At home."

"Does this mean we have to go shopping?" Draco asked, annoyed.

"Of course not silly. We'll just go home, pick up my stuff and come back here," Hermione replied.

"No way."

"Why not?"

"Because if we go home, my mother and yours are never going to leave us alone!" Draco exclaimed.

"Alone?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

"You know what I mean!"

"Yeah I do and it's true. But we should at least say one last goodbye. Who knows how long we'll be in Alaska."

"Hermione," Draco whined.

"Draco, are you whining?" Hermione giggled.

"No. Malfoys do not 'whine'," Draco said.

"Of course not," Hermione laughed.

"Fine, let's go. It takes a little over an hour to get there!" Draco exclaimed, frowning.

"I'll drive."

"No way, you drive slow," Malfoy replied. "With you driving, we'll be lucky if we get there in two hours!"

"That's NOT true. I drive well and at the appropriate speed," Hermione said.

"That's what you say. Anyway, it's…four right? I guess we'll go, pick up your stuff…"

"And stay for dinner of course…" Hermione added in. When she looked up, she couldn't help but laugh at Draco's facial expression. He looked as if somebody had taken away his most prized possession.

"What?"

"Draco, we can't go there and not eat dinner when I know for a fact that my mother will make food for us. That reminds me, I have to call her! Oh she's going to be angry. I haven't called once nor written a letter! Um, Draco, you called your mom right? At least once? Please say you did."

"…"

"We're screwed." Hermione hurriedly picked up the phone to call her mother and missed Draco's horrified face. The two teens realized they would be in major trouble for not contacting their mothers. After being away for a very long time, both knew what awaited them when they went for a "visit" tonight.

"Fine…eat…and then come home. We should be home by 9 or 10 alright? And NO, we're not staying longer," Draco said sullenly. '_Mother is going to kill me!_' Draco thought frantically while Hermione was thinking the same thing.

"Draco, it might be a while before you see your mom again. Don't you want to spend a little time with her?"

"Yeah but the longer we stay, the harder it is going to be leaving. On top of that, do you realize how much trouble we're going to be in! Hermione, we haven't called them OR sent them a letter. We isolated ourselves from them and I doubt tonight's going to be ad very happy reunion" Draco replied furiously. He knew how emotional his mother got, and he was pretty sure Hermione's mom would have a fit when she heard her daughter was leaving for a good amount of time…again. He did not want to be around for that. '_Crying women and me definitely don't go well with each other_,' Draco thought. He also wondered how he was going to manage leaving…again. He was sure both mothers would try their hardest to keep the teens at home. He just hoped Dumbledore didn't have to be bothered with that tonight. He waited patiently for Hermione to finish the conversation with her mother. Seeing her teary eyed expression, he could tell that her mother was furious. And the fact that he could hear every word her mother screamed over the phone. '_Hermione, please don't cry, don't, don't, don't, don't, please don't cry_,' Draco prayed silently.

"They're furious," Hermione whispered, covering her face with her hands. "I am so angry with myself! I should have called or sent a letter, at least to let her know I was still alive. Dumbledore apparently didn't inform them about our conditions since the day we left!"

"Hermione, we forgot. We were…busy. They're mad but when we visit them, you know they're going to be so happy to see you, your mom will completely forget about her anger," Draco grinned. He was a little nervous about visiting his mom again but didn't want to show it.

"We are screwed! We're in so much trouble!"

"Granger, calm down. Come on, let's go if we plan on getting back early. Dumbledore is meeting us at 7 tomorrow morning to set up a port key," Draco said, trying hard not to laugh. He didn't see what the big deal was. Didn't all parents yell at their kids? He looked down to find Hermione curled up in a ball, in tears.

"Granger, for god's sake, stop worrying!"

"What time is it?

"4:30. Get up," Draco said as he grabbed his keys.

"I'm coming," Hermione mumbled. "This is going to be a long car ride."

As Draco pulled out of the drive away, Hermione thought about their first day here. Looking back, she realized they had come a long way since that day. Now they could actually talk to each other without wanting to kill the other. '_It took us two months to be civil towards each other, I wonder how long it would take for him to fall in love_,' Hermione thought. She hated the feeling she got every time he said something or smiled or laughed with her. '_I never thought this would happen_'. Suddenly she heard a beeping sound and checked her bag to see if it was her cell phone. Confused, she looked over to Draco who had a cell phone out and was busy texting at the speed of light.

Shocked, Hermione asked, "Since when do you have a cell phone?"

"I've always had one. I just…don't use it much," Draco replied. "Why are you so shocked?"

"Draco Malfoy has a cell phone," Hermione repeated.

"I know."

"You could've told me about it!"

"Does it matter to you that much Granger?" Draco asked, not understanding what the big deal was.

"Well, don't you think it would have been easier for me to contact you if I had known you had a phone? If we got separated, then I could have called your cell phone!" Hermione said.

"Or I could just call yours. Potter gave me your number," Draco replied, not taking his eyes off the road. "And I'm surprised you didn't know I had one considering I've left it lying around the house, I might have even used it in front of you once, and you have my number in your phone because I put it there."

"I…never noticed," Hermione said, a little shocked. When she looked through her contact list, she saw Draco's name on there. She looked over to Draco who was trying hard not to laugh at her. "You can laugh now," Hermione mumbled angrily.

"I can't believe you never noticed," Draco laughed.

"Well, I was paying attention," Hermione mumbled, embarrassed. "By the way, slow down!"

"I'm going slow enough Granger," Draco said.

"Of course you are. 100 mph is so slow. A slug moves faster," Hermione replied sarcastically.

"Exactly," Draco said, speeding up slightly.

"You're going to get a speeding ticket."

"Am not. I've always driven at this pace and never gotten one in my life."

"Are too. You'll get caught one day."

"Nope," Draco smirked.

"Fine, we'll see!"

* * *

**Disclaimer- I don't own anything.**

**_Review please!_**

**- TragicTealeaves -**


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